“The structure builds, then, as the observer proceeds from one experience to another, and finally a new aspect
of perception is outlined. Scientific and artistic insight fuse, creating by their interplay a basic type of experience —
neither science nor art, but a comprehension that has both the character of information and quality of poetic vision.”
- Gyorgy Kepes, The New Landscape

Spatial Conditions of the Restored Public Realm 11
Future Transportation 12
Reuse of Salvaged Materials in Art
Views from the Shore
Views from the Bay
Viewpoints
Environmental Phenomena
Qualitative Character

Art is a field of inquiry and profound cultural force
that stimulates thinking, reveals meaning, and creates
connections that can uniquely resonate with one’s
consciousness of place. Seattle’s Central Waterfront is
about to undergo a dramatic reinvention, and public
art will play a major role in how this transformation is
perceived, experienced, and remembered. In many
ways art will be a catalyst for the cultural essence of
the reimagined waterfront. It can speak about Seattle’s
environmental ethos, history and culture of innovation
and invention, connectivity to the world, and spectacular
natural setting.
The Elliott Bay Seawall is the structural spine of the
Central Waterfront and threshold where land meets
sea. Replacement of the deteriorated seawall, portions
of which are nearly a century old, is a foundational step
for a program that will remake the waterfront, called
Waterfront Seattle. Guided by Waterfront Seattle’s
art plan, entitled A Working Plan for Art on the Central
Seattle Waterfront, the Elliott Bay Seawall Project Art
Programming Plan is a framework for the development
of artworks both permanent and temporary that will
articulate the seawall site, illuminating its workings in
unexpected ways.
The art projects identified in this plan will be
implemented as part of the Elliott Bay Seawall Project
(Seawall Project), which is being led by the City of
Seattle’s Department of Transportation (SDOT). The
art is anticipated to be funded primarily through the
City’s Public Art Ordinance, which appropriates 1% of
the estimated cost of municipally funded construction
projects to the purchasing or commissioning of works of
art. Opportunities may also exist to develop parterships
with private and non-profit organizations to plan and
fund artworks.

Art on the waterfront will be as dynamic
and diverse as the multi-faceted attributes
that inspire it, tapping into conditions of the
past, present, and future to conjure Seattle’s
Waterfront.
Elliott Bay Seawall Project

The Elliott Bay Seawall Project is a major and essential
reconstruction that will replace the existing seawall with
a new structure that meets current ecological, safety, and
design standards. The City of Seattle plans to replace
the Central Seawall beginning in late 2013, with a second
phase of work for the North Seawall following as funding
is available. The Central Seawall extends between South
Washington Street (just south of the Washington Street
Boat Landing) and Virginia Street (at the northern edge
of Pier 62/63). It is approximately 3,700 feet long. The
North Seawall will extend north from Virginia Street to
Broad Street another 3,500 feet. The Central Seawall is
the focus of this art plan.
The City of Seattle’s goals for the Elliott Bay Seawall
Project are:
• address critical structural public safety needs at the
shoreline;
• respect cultural, archaeological, and historic
resources;
• consider long-term vision for the Central
Waterfront;
• provide enhanced habitat and environmental
quality;
• provide enhanced public gathering and recreational
opportunities;
• support the economic vitality of the waterfront;
• minimize cumulative construction impacts;
• support fiscal responsibility.

Schedule

The Elliott Bay Seawall Project is currently in a design
phase that will be complete in 2013. Construction is
anticipated to occur over a period of three seasons,
starting in 2013 and reaching completion in early
2016. Construction will be phased in order to minimize
impacts on businesses and transportation and will
be discontinued during summer months when peak
visitation and tourism occur. Phases of construction
will be refined after a General Contractor/Construction
Manager is selected at the end of 2012.

Transformation of the Central Waterfront

Transformation of the waterfront will occur in the next
decade through many current and future projects. One
of the most significant is Washington State Department
of Transportation’s replacement of the aged and
vulnerable Alaskan Way Viaduct (Highway 99), a doublestacked elevated highway completed in 1953 that bisects
downtown and the waterfront. The massive structure
is being replaced with an underground tunnel. Upon
completion of the bored tunnel and replacement of
the seawall in 2016, the Viaduct along the Central
Waterfront will be demolished and a new surface street
constructed in its place. The new roadway will include
improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, and
transit connections that will reconnect downtown Seattle
to the waterfront.
According to historian Paul Dorpat, long-time waterfront
entrepreneur Ivar Haglund spoke before his death in
1985 about how when the Viaduct does eventually come
down, “the waterfront will awaken like Sleeping Beauty
to the kiss of its prince, the city.” Much anticipation for
this awakening is occurring and the City and State are
working collaboratively across projects to take advantage
of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape Seattle’s
waterfront. Toward that end, the City has initiated the
Waterfront Seattle program.

Waterfront Seattle Vision

Waterfront Seattle, a program through which the
waterfront will be transformed over time, describes a
cohesive framework of public spaces, programs, and art
that will enliven the waterfront. Essential to the vision
are interconnections between the Central Waterfront
and Elliott Bay to the west, downtown Seattle to the
east, public parks and spaces to the north, and historic
Pioneer Square and the stadium district to the south.
The Waterfront Seattle and Seawall Project teams have
collaborated on seawall placement to maximize flexibility
for the future implementation of waterfront open space.
Waterfront Seattle’s design is being led by james corner
field operations, who is working with the Elliott Bay
Seawall design team to conceive public realm elements
of the Seawall Project that will become the initial
segment of Waterfront Seattle’s public spaces.

Seattle’s waterfront skyline is composed of structures of
entertainment (the Great Wheel and Century Link Field) and
structures of work (piers and Port of Seattle cranes).

A Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle Waterfront
was completed as part of the Waterfront Seattle
Concept Plan. It seeks to actively engage the public
and artists of all backgrounds to be directly involved in
a cultural reconnection with the evolving waterfront.
While Waterfront Seattle’s concept design plan drafts
strategies for reconnecting downtown Seattle to Elliott
Bay physically, its art plan develops a program that will
reconnect Seattle to Elliott Bay culturally.
The plan calls for a variety of art to create continuing
engagement and cultural production on the waterfront.
Art projects include core commissions for prominent
sites, ephemeral and temporary projects, artist
residencies, performances, lectures, and education
programs.

“A thoughtful redevelopment unavoidably
destroys and preserves, making new things
appear amidst the old. Art can work in
parallel with these processes. It should not
merely preserve, or represent (the past, or
the future), but interact amid the systems,
peoples, geographies, economies, and ecologies
of its site. On a site as complex as the Seattle
Waterfront, art must do more than symbolize
or represent these processes. It must sincerely
engage them over time.”

Elliott Bay Seawall Project Design Team Artists

Artists Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan have produced the Elliott Bay Seawall Project Art Programming Plan
collaborating as integral members of the Seawall Project Design Team. Their work includes:
understanding and advancing the vision of Waterfront Seattle’s Working Plan for Art;
researching and analyzing the Seawall Project’s site, design, goals, and methods;
developing a conceptual framework for art based on Waterfront Seattle’s vision;
identifying and analyzing the feasibility and artistic potential of Seawall Project sites and elements for inclusion of
artwork;
• defining future art commissions to be administered by Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (OACA) in
partnership with SDOT;
• coordinating with SDOT, OACA, the Seawall Project design team, other artists, and other agencies and
stakeholders to develop and implement art projects identified in this art plan.
•
•
•
•

- A Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle
Waterfront

A Working Plan for Art identifies the seawall as a
core site for art, and in particular calls for art that
reveals tidal processes and creates a more bio-positive
environment. Given that Elliott Bay is one of the world’s
only biodiversity hot spots within an urban center, one
goal identified for the seawall is to restore severed
connections between habitat zones (aquatic, intertidal,
riparian, upland) on the new waterfront.

Elliott Bay Seawall Project Art Plan

The Seawall Project design team includes artists charged
with ensuring that Waterfront Seattle’s vision for art
is carried forth as part of the Project. The Elliott Bay
Seawall Project Art Programming Plan interprets,
develops, and applies the concepts and goals of A
Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle Waterfront
into a program uniquely tailored to conditions and
opportunities of the Seawall Project.
The concepts, research, and analysis completed by
the Seawall Project design team are to be used in
combination with the work of Waterfront Seattle as
reference during the development of individual art
projects for the seawall.
Pier 62/63 with yellow chairs set out as part of
Waterfront Seattle‘s initial phase of programming
4 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Primary Art Concepts of Waterfront Seattle

The following section describes the main concepts of
Waterfront Seattle’s A Working Plan for Art and how the
Seawall Art Programming Plan interprets and manifests
them.
Art Intelligence: Art and Design Working Together
A Working Plan for Art calls for “design and art to work
together to reveal and develop the unique character
and identity of this site,” resulting in “‘art intelligence’
integrated into each aspect of the design.” SDOT has
adopted this imperative by embedding artists into the
Seawall Project design team, allowing them to work
closely with its engineers and scientists to ensure that
art is considered in regard to every component of the
project. As a result, the primary art opportunities that
have been identified propose to integrate art into key
systems of the Seawall Project, including habitat, light
penetration, utilities, wayfinding, and the seawall itself.
Art intelligence is lodged into the overall framework
and objectives of the Project so that art and design can
work together in ways that are sometimes seamless,
sometimes independent, but always complementary in
achieving mutual goals.
Continuous Elements: Art Addressing a Large Scale
A Working Plan for Art stipulates that “art should address
the large scale of the waterfront’s continuous elements
and contribute to the understanding of narrative along
the waterfront.” The seawall is perhaps the largestscaled piece of infrastructure that the City will produce.
Asking artists to weave their ideas into its very workings
has two benefits: the infrastructure becomes a more
nuanced and fascinating artifact, and the art concepts
are extended to the scale of the waterfront.
Cultural Identity: Respond to Place, Produce Place
A Working Plan for Art describes how “public projects
will negotiate connections between new and old on the
site” and engage the public in “developing a new cultural
identity on the waterfront through artistic expression.”
The process of producing the Seawall Art Programming
Plan has entailed a thorough investigation and
documentation of past, present, and future conditions on
the waterfront with the intent that artists might respond

to stories from all time periods and create compelling
work that engenders a strong sense of place.
A Culturally Working Waterfront: Conceptual Values
A Working Plan for Art is formed around a set of core
values to which the Seawall Art Programming Plan
adheres.
“Ecology, Economy, Community” stipulates that art and
culture on the waterfront engage these three broad
forces whose interaction has continually shaped the
waterfront. It is stated that ecological aspects of the
waterfront that were suppressed by the existing seawall
will re-emerge on the new waterfront, community
will re-engage with the waterfront when the Viaduct
is removed, and economy, which has always driven
Seattle’s waterfront development, will continue to
contribute to its shaping. Art should foster ongoing
encounters between these systems. While the Seawall
Project Art Programming Plan responds to all three
of these subjects, it has a strong focus on creating art
opportunities associated with restoring the waterfront’s
ecology.

the effectiveness of habitat restoration techniques. The
Seawall Art Programming Plan specifies experimental
art in which artists will collaborate with scientists and
engineers to develop new methods of addressing
ecological issues.
“The Site as Source“ suggests that art consider place
through lenses of history, geography, ecology, and
economy. It provides a survey of significant places,
both specific/historical and general/philosophical from
which art might take inspiration. Some of the key sites
identified in the plan that are significant to the seawall
include Skid Road, Ballast Island, Tidelines, Salish Sea,
Moon the Transformer, Underground, High and Low, and
the Littoral Zone. Artists working on Seawall Project
commissions may find inspiration in the places listed in
A Working Plan for Art, the Seawall Art Programming
Plan, or a “site” they may unearth in their own research.
The waterfront’s past, present, and future as well as
its culture, environment, and economy create a richly
interwoven resource for artists that will foster unique
site-specific artworks.

“360 Degree City” describes a method of comprehending
“A Working Waterfront” acknowledges the many types
the physicality of the waterfront in geographic terms,
of labor and production that have been and will continue including understanding an individual artwork in the
to be a part of Seattle’s working waterfront, including
context of other artworks on the waterfront. As the first
artmaking. The legacy of a “working waterfront” inspires major project of the larger Waterfront Seattle vision,
a cultural program in which artists will work alongside
art created through the Seawall Project will frame a
workers from other fields on the waterfront. The
geographic “place” that creates a cohesive narrative
Seawall Art Programming Plan calls for artists to work
about the seawall in the context of the whole waterfront.
closely with Project designers, engineers, and contractors
to create work that is uniquely tied to the physical and
Falling under A Working Plan for Art’s ideas on geography
is a vision to create “A Constellation of Sites” that
cultural identity of the waterfront. It also describes
connect artworks, audiences, and neighborhoods.
a wide array of temporary art commissions that will
Through this vision, artworks can be conceived to aid
involve artists working on site during construction to
in “Navigation and Wayfinding” for routes created in,
engage the public directly in cultural production.
around, and connecting to the waterfront. The Seawall
Art Programming Plan sets out to manifest these
“A Waterfront as Cultural Think Tank” envisions the
considerations by mapping system-based artworks that
waterfront as a laboratory for incubating and testing
act as navigational devices for both human and marine
new ideas, partnerships, and cultural productions that
life. Art created through the Seawall Project will be the
will influence the design, use, and experience of the
first step in implementing this cohesive geographical
waterfront. Environmental work related to the new
“constellation.”
seawall includes ongoing experimentation to increase
ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 5

Currently the waterfront has three types of seawall
structures which were constructed between 1911 and
1936, with the oldest section south of Madison Street.
The seawall ranges between 15 and 60 feet in width.
The widest section is located in front of the historic
waterfront piers and spans the entire width of Alaskan
Way to the western edge of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
The seawall has deteriorated and needs to be replaced
for the following reasons:
• it was built with untreated old growth timbers and
has been damaged by waves and tidal forces as well
as marine borers called gribbles;
• it was not built to withstand earthquakes and is
unable to resist loads associated with potential
liquefaction of the loose soils on which Seattle’s
waterfront is constructed;
• waves and tidal forces have eroded fill from behind
the Seawall, creating voids that have caused
structural damage and instability of the wall.

Seawall Replacement

The Elliott Bay Seawall is being designed to withstand
a 1,000-year seismic event and will have a service
life of 75-100 years. Methods being considered for
the replacement of the Central Seawall take into
consideration the Project’s objectives, structural aspects
of the existing seawall, and other concurrent and future
projects occurring on the waterfront. The new seawall
will be constructed approximately 10-15 feet landward of
the existing seawall, which will be removed after the new
structure is in place. A sidewalk will extend west, over
the water, to connect the piers to land.

Structural System of the New Seawall

The structural system for the new seawall will be built
with soil improvements, using jet grouting and deep soil
mixing.
Jet grouting consists of mixing in-situ soils with grout
to form a mass of stabilized soil. Circular columns of
improved soil are formed by inserting a hollow drill
pipe into the existing soil, and spraying grout under
high pressure through nozzles in the drill pipe into the
surrounding soil. This process generates spoils that will
be either reused or disposed.
The jet grout columns will be constructed in a grid
pattern to create a block of improved soil extending
down to firm glacial soils. The cellular arrangement
of the columns will form enclosures around otherwise
liquefiable soil. The finished configuration of the grouted
columns will create the spine of the new seawall.
Concrete face panels will be placed on its waterward side
to protect the structure from wave and tidal action and
other environmental forces.

Restoration of Alaskan Way

electrical, steam, gas, fire alarm, and telecommunication
systems. Some are directly beneath Alaskan Way while
others extend through the seawall to the piers. Most
of the connections to the piers will be temporarily
relocated and reinstalled in their final locations as
seawall construction progresses; others will be protected
in place. Utilities that penetrate the new seawall include
stormwater.

Amenities in the Restored Public Realm

The Seawall Project’s restored public realm will include
the restored roadway, multi-use path, and cantilevered
sidewalk pedestrian zone. Features of the pedestrian
walkway include continuous light penetrating surfaces to
improve marine habitat, temporary planters and seating
where space allows (to be relocated or repurposed
when the final configuration of the Tideline Promenade
is built), a view platform at the Spring Street pier slip, a
view of the new seawall at the Seattle Aquarium, railings
at pier slips and the Aquarium, and lighting.
The Project also includes amenities at Washington
Street: restoration of the historic Washington Street

At completion of the Seawall Project, Alaskan Way will
be in a “restored” state. It will include four lanes of
traffic. A multi-use path will run on its east side and
the cantilevered sidewalk on its west side. Following
demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in 2016, the
roadway will be moved further east to its final location,
after which the western section of the restored roadway
will be replaced with the eastern portion of Waterfront
Seattle’s Tideline Promenade, which is described in more
detail on the following pages.

This art programming plan describes ways in
which art can be incorporated into the Seawall
Project’s public realm amenities and marine
habitat improvements.
Opportunities for Art in the Seawall Project

While different locations, types, and themes for art offer
different opportunities, the following generally can be
applied to the art projects identified in this plan:
• art will be in a highly visible location;
• sites for art are layered with phenomena;
• art can tie to large-scale systems of infrastructure
• art can function scientifically;
• art can contribute to Project goals and methods,
including enhancing marine habitat;
• artists will have access to a collaborative team of
engineers and scientists.

Constraints for Art in the Seawall Project

The following constraints generally can be applied to the
art projects identified in this plan:
• art cannot impede ecological function;
• art will be subject to permitting requirements;
• space for large-scale sculpture is somewhat limited;
• visibility of art may be challenging in some locations;
• artists must take into consideration future phases of
implementing Waterfront Seattle elements, which
could cause certain site conditions to change.

Boat Landing, which will be reinstalled at its current
location following off-site restoration, and a new pocket
beach similar to the existing beach at Olympic Sculpture
Park. Other habitat restoration features are included
along the length of the new seawall.

As part of the Seawall Project, the City of Seattle is
improving the nearshore ecosystem of Elliott Bay, with a
focus on restoring the juvenile salmon migration corridor.
Every year tens of thousands of salmon migrate along
the Elliott Bay Seawall and then up the Green/Duwamish
River and its tributaries to spawn. After beginning their
lives in freshwater rivers, juvenile salmon swim down the
Green/Duwamish River to enter Elliott Bay in the spring
and summer, traveling along the Elliott Bay Seawall
and Seattle’s urbanized downtown waterfront. Diets
of salmon migrating through Elliott Bay include small
crustaceans and riparian insects.
For juvenile salmon traveling to the ocean, the Seattle
Waterfront presents a bewildering maze of open
water and piers, shallow and deep water, light and
darkness. Juvenile salmon eyes are sensitive to high
contrast light conditions: it takes them 20-40 minutes
to transition between dark and light areas. For that
reason they typically swim around piers, where light
levels are consistent, rather than beneath them. This is
disadvantageous because as they move out to the ends
of the piers the water becomes deeper, food is scarce,
and predators are more abundant.

Habitat Restoration Strategies

Replacement of the seawall provides a unique
opportunity to incorporate elements along the new wall
that will encourage juvenile salmon to hug the shoreline
as they swim to the ocean.

General strategies for improving habitat are being met
with a series of specific design elements, some of which
can be augmented and revealed by art integration.
Create Shallow/Intertidal Water
Shallow water (6’ or less) along the shoreline
increases plant growth to supply juvenile salmon with
food while also creating a refuge from predators who
live in deeper waters. The following design elements will
accomplish this:
• a shallow sloping beach at Washington Street to
provide a substantial intertidal area for respite;
• intertidal habitat benches between piers, constructed
from stacked marine mattresses (rock filled mesh
cubes), to create pockets of shallow water.
Improve Substrates to Support Plants and Invertebrates
Vertical seawalls typically lack sloping surfaces that
modify patterns of wave energy and provide other
physical characteristics that influence the growth and
distribution of sessile invertebrates. The vertical edge
they create reduces the intertidal surface area available
for plant and invertebrate life, increasing competition
and stress among organisms (Maureen Goff, p. 1).
Additionally, seawalls often do not include the varied
textures and crevices that can promote plant and
invertebrate growth and provide refuge. The Seawall
Project includes the following design elements to
enhance ecological processes:

Enhancing habitat conditions for juvenile salmon
along the Seattle Waterfront is pivotal to the success
of regional salmon recovery. The Seawall Project will
create approximately two acres of new aquatic habitat
and a salmon migratory corridor.
The Project will also enhance habitat for other residential
or migratory organisms that inhabit Puget Sound, as the
ecosystem is connected and what supports salmonids
also supports other forms of life. These resources
include plankton, invertebrates, fish, birds, mammals,
and aquatic vegetation.

Design Elements for Habitat Improvement

school of spawning sockeye salmon

• textured seawall face panels to promote growth of
intertidal vegetation and marine invertebrates;
• marine habitat “shelves” placed intermittently along
the seawall to provide variations in slope and refuge
for invertebrates;
• substrates that support life, including gravel and shell
hash, placed on the marine floor at habitat benches
(some will be loose and some confined in marine
mattresses);
• marine mattresses to protect aquatic habitat from
wave exposure.
A collaborative effort between City of Seattle engineers
and planners, consultants, and University of Washington

8 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

researchers led to the design, installation, and evaluation
of “habitat enhancement test panels” that integrate
physical features such as slope and surface texture to
mimic natural intertidal microhabitats. Results of those
test panels, still installed on the existing seawall north of
the Seattle Aquarium, have informed the design of the
Elliott Bay Seawall.
Introduce Riparian Vegetation in Upland Areas
Riparian plantings enhance the structure of the aquatic
habitat and provide food and refuge for migrating
salmon. While space for in-ground plantings is limited in
the Seawall Project public realm, the following measures
are being taken to maximize the potential that does exist
for riparian vegetation:
• areas of the Washington Street Beach above the tidal
zone to be planted with riparian vegetation;
• trees to be incorporated into the upland area of
the Washington Street Beach, and eventually the
promenade adjacent to it to create a critical mass of
shoreline vegetation;
• temporary planters to be inserted wherever there
is space and filled with plants that support the local
shoreline ecology.
Increase and Balance Sunlight Levels
Greater levels of sunlight penetrating the water make
it easier for juvenile salmon to see food and predators.
Sunlight also promotes the growth of vegetation which
provides food. The following design elements will be
used to manage light in a way that benefits the marine
environment:
• a continuous band of light penetrating surfaces
(glass block and grating) to be incorporated into
the cantilevered sidewalk hovering over the shallow
water along the seawall, permitting sunlight to
penetrate to the marine environment below and
minimizing dark pockets between lit areas;
• artificial illumination designed to minimize the
amount of night light entering through these
surfaces, so as not to disturb natural rhythms.

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MARINE HABITAT: HISTORIC, PRESENT, AND FUTURE CONDITIONS

HISTORIC CONDITIONS
RESTORED SEAWALL

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Elliott Bay: Historic—Present—Future

The Central Waterfront was originally characterized by
tree-covered bluffs fronted with mixed gravel beaches in
the north end. In the south end tidal mud flats fostered
eel grass, shellfish, and other life that supported the
migration of salmon along the varied coastline. Today,
despite the lack of shallow sloping intertidal beaches,
Elliott Bay still serves as an important migratory corridor
for salmon, though the convoluted path juveniles make

around piers poses a threat, diminishing the salmon
population. Future improvements made by the Seawall
Project strive to streamline the migratory path, holding it
close to shore where conditions are more habitable.

Cycles of Salmon Migration

Juvenile salmon migrate to the ocean in the spring and
summer and adults return in the fall and winter to the
Green/Duwamish watershed. The Salish people who
inhabit the region have a symbiosis with the salmon
who live in the Puget Sound area and organize activities
around the migration calendar. Historically they have
understood the following lifestyle characteristics of the
various species:

•
•
•
•

sockeye spend their early years in lakes;
chum spawn in streams near the ocean in the fall;
coho spawn in fast-flowing small streams in the fall;
chinook spawn in large rivers far from the sea in
spring and fall (Matthew Klingle, pp. 21-22).

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 9

FUTURE VISION OF WATERFRONT SEATTLE
Tideline Promenade

A Waterfront for All

Waterfront Seattle’s framework plan includes public
spaces that will be strung along a wide pedestrian
spine called the Tideline Promenade, which will
include plants, seating, kiosks, a bike path, and other
amenities. The Seawall Project’s restored condition will
include the westernmost portion of the future Tideline
Promenade, including where it meets the property line
of contiguous piers. The seawall will be located 15’ east
of this property line. As a result, the 15’-wide section
of promenade between the piers and seawall will be
cantilevered above water, while the section east of the
seawall will sit on solid ground. The cantilevered portion
is where light penetrating surfaces will be located.

The Elliott Bay Seawall Project is the foundational step in
the long-term implementation of Waterfront Seattle, a
cohesive framework for public space, parks, connections,
and programs that will enliven the waterfront.
Waterfront Seattle will be built in phases over the next
decade with a combination of public and private funds.

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• the western edge of the Tideline Promenade;
• the Washington Street Beach.

below: Waterfront Seattle vision for public spaces overlaid onto public space that will result from Seawall Project

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above: Waterfront Seattle Tideline Promenade in its final configuration at Pier 54 (image courtesy of james corner field operations)

Permanent public amenities as identified in the
Waterfront Seattle framework plan that will result
from the Seawall Project include:

COLUMBIA ST

MADISON ST

SPRING ST

SENECA ST

2ND AVE

MARION ST

UNIVERSITY ST

UNION ST

FUTURE CONDITIONS

PIKE ST

KEY:

PINE ST

ART
STEW

ST

BLAN

CHA

RD S

PIKE ST

PINE ST

VIRG

INIA

ST

ART
STEW

ST

• create a waterfront for all;
• put the shoreline and innovative, sustainable design
at the forefront;
• reconnect the city to its waterfront;
• embrace and celebrate Seattle’s past, present and
future;
• improve access and mobility;
• create a bold vision that is adaptable over time;
• develop consistent leadership.

• The densest overlay of the kind of natural and
cultural phenomena artists might be drawn to occurs
at the water’s edge. Even after the final configuration
of the Tideline Promenade is constructed, the
western edge that is being built with the Seawall
Project will be the magnet to which people gravitate.

• The promenade will cantilever over the water,
supported by a system of concrete beams that limit
the placement of structurally intensive artwork.

• The promenade is narrow in the east-west
orientation but long in the north-south orientation,
presenting possibilities for sequential or narrative art
that can be experienced over a three-quarter mile
walk.
INIA

• The entire width from street curb to waterside
edge varies between 18-29’. At least 18’ of this
must remain clear space for pedestrian passage,
additionally 3’ of clear space must be provided

• The surface of the promenade will include light
penetrating surfaces that should not be permanently
shaded by artwork or other streetscape elements.

LENO

T
RD S
CHA
BLAN

between the curb and any obstruction in the
sidewalk area. Remaining space must accommodate
utility boxes, street light standards, raised planters,
seating, and other streetscape furnishings. As
such, there are only a few promenade locations, in
the wider north end of the site and at a widened
cantilever in a slip between Piers 54 and 55, suitable
for sculpture.

The promenade that will be created with the Seawall
Project will be narrower than the final condition. Certain
conditions should be considered when conceiving
artwork integration.

SPRING ST

• Just beyond the western edge of the promenade
is an extensive view of Puget Sound, the Olympic
Mountains, and sunset skies. Art can “borrow” these
vistas in the manner of the Picturesque landscape
tradition, expanding its spatial breadth enormously.

• Temporary planters in the north end of the site
offer an opportunity to test new types of productive
plantings that could range from tree nurseries to
agricultural crops to natives that attract birds and
other wildlife.

Spatial Constraints

SENECA ST

• The promenade is layered and expansive vertically
in the way its cantilever encompasses the water and
marine environment below and open sky above.

• The Washington Street Beach provides a fantastic
opportunity for a spatially expansive artwork that can
draw on the dense phenomena of the site.

SENECA ST

Unique spatial opportunities of the Seawall Project will
inspire the creation of memorable art experiences.

The new seawall will support the Alaskan Way Viaduct,
existing and future surface streets, and contingent ferry
and rail lines, all of which transport local, regional and
international commuters, visitors and freight. Once the
Viaduct is demolished, a new four-lane surface street will
be built in its footprint. It will function as both an urban
arterial and a regional connector for transporting freight.

Reconstruction of the Seawall is a foundational step
in building this important new piece of transporation
infrastructure.

Waterfront as a Crossroads

The waterfront is, in the words of Waterfront Seattle, a
crossroads. Waterfront Seattle has an access strategy
that seeks to connect the Central Waterfront with
people and places throughout the city and region using
a wide range of transportation and wayfinding options,
including bicycles, ferries, public transit, walking, and a
constellation of art.

Central to the Seawall Project is a goal to restore a
juvenile salmon migration corridor. Just as critical
as facilitating the mobility of freight and people is
facilitating the migration of salmon and other marine
species.

NW
AY

TA
L

REUSE OF SALVAGED MATERIALS IN ART
Salvaged Materials and Sustainability

Replacement of the seawall will include a demolition
and salvage operation that runs concurrent with
construction. Because the new seawall will push inward
from the existing seawall, large and small structures as
well as fill will be extracted and removed from the site.
While much of this matter will be rubble, there also exist
elements that may be desirable for reuse in art.

Salvaged materials offer the following qualities:

•
•
•
•
•

durability and suitability for exterior use;
low cost or free;
patina of history, marine life, authenticity;
conduit between the past and present;
tie to city goals for sustainability.

The Seawall Project has catalogued materials that will be
salvaged and may be available for use in artworks. Of
particular interest may be the following elements:
• drainage scuppers and outfalls in the seawall;
• plaques and emblems on railings and in the sidewalk
(alternatively, these may be reinstalled or donated to
the Museum of History and Industry);
• metal expansion plate over existing seawall;
• ekki (wood) lagging on existing seawall;
• wood pilings from relieving platform;
• rails from old streetcar.

Application of Salvaged Materials in Art

While artists commissioned for any of the art projects
identified in this plan may make use of the salvaged
materials, certain opportunities should be highlighted:
Construction Curator. During construction an artist may
be commissioned to select, catalog, and display curious
salvaged artifacts in on-site interpretive cabinets.
Aquatic Utility. An artwork integrated with utilities may
make interesting use of artifacts of previous utilities.
Sculpted Habitat and Habitat Incubators. Projects geared
toward the production of marine habitat may consider
using materials that already have a patina of marine life.
ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 13

VIEWS FROM THE SHORE

clockwise from upper left:
pedestrians on existing sidewalk at University Street pier slip
looking out from University Street pier slip
Waterfront Park and Seattle Aquarium
looking north up Alaskan Way from the Marion Street pedestrian overpass
queue for ferry at Colman Dock
outdoor seating at Ivar’s on Pier 54
view of Aquarium from base of Pike Street Hillclimb

14 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

VIEWS FROM THE BAY

clockwise from upper left:
Washington State Ferry leaving Colman Dock, with Port of Seattle cranes in the background
view of waterfront with downtown skyline in the background, as seen from a boat
looking north toward Washington State Ferry at Colman Dock, with Seattle skyline landmarks in the background
looking north at back of Pier 54, toward the Great Wheel on Pier 57
Washington Street Public Boat Landing, with stormwater outfall showing in the seawall below
site of future Washington Street Beach, with Smith Tower in the background
looking toward Pier 55 and Argosy Cruises, with downtown buildings in the background
western edge of piles and deck of Piers 62/63, contrasted with downtown buildings in the background

Seattle is renowned for its spectacular layered views
that condense the urban skyline with Puget Sound and
surrounding mountain ranges. Looking west from the
Central Waterfront, the Olympic Mountains appear to be
part of the city. This borrowed scenery can be used to
advantage in artworks.

Views east to the waterfront from ferries and other boats Once the Alaskan Way Viaduct is removed slot views of
are also fantastic, especially in their juxtaposition of
the waterfront from downtown will re-open, providing a
historic wood piers, industrial-scale shipping containers
visual reconnection to the Bay.
and cranes, and the modern skyline.

16 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

KA

NW
AY

TA
L

ST

SJ

AC
K

SM
AIN

SK

ING

ST

T
RD S
CHA
BLAN

R
LENO

A ST

VIRG

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT

SO
NS
T

GT
ON
ST
SW
AS
HIN

YE
SL
ER
WA
Y

JAMES ST

CHERRY ST

COLUMBIA ST

MARION ST

MADISON ST

SPRING ST

SENECA ST

UNIVERSITY ST

UNION ST

PIKE ST

ST

INIA

PINE ST

KEY:
RESTORED SEAWALL

ST
ART
STEW

ENVIRONMENTAL PHENOMENA

Tidal Change
OC
CID

PIE
CO R 52
FE LMA /
RR
Y T N DO
ER
MI CK/
NA
L

PIE
R5
3

PIE
R5
4

PIE
R5
5

PIE

R5

6

7
R5
PIE

1s

FE

PIE
CR R 66
UIS /
ES
HIP
S

TC
H

PIE
R4
8

tA
VE

WA
VE

ATER
EST W

DEEP

AL

AS

7˚

RS

TE

Sun. Low western evening sunlight can be fantastic in its
breadth, coloration of the sky, and casting of shadows.
Of note is the wide seasonal difference in daylight hours
(16 at summer solstice versus 8 at winter solstice).
Wind. Winds align along Puget Sound. Light winds (0-20
knots) come from the north in the summer and stronger
winds (0-40 knots) from the south in the winter.

Aquatic Environment

WIN

˚
23

TER

T2

Environment, weather, and light are essential to
experiences of the waterfront. The sense of place
shifts dramatically as these natural conditions change.
Sun, wind, clouds, rain, seasonal changes of light and
weather, as well as diurnal changes from daylight to
darkness are all phenomena to which art can respond,
either heightening our perception of the environment or
contradicting it.

WIN

DS

PIE
PO RS 4
RT 7, 4
OF 6
SE
AT
TL
E

SUMMER WINDS

SE
UN

Weather Phenomena

NW
AY

IN

S

M

M

SU

ER

0
T3

KA

W

E

S
UN

TA
L

TIDA
SHOR L
ELINE

PIE
R6
2/6
3

AQ
UA
R

IUM

WA
TE
R
PA FRO
RK NT

EN

Puget Sound is a deep glacial fjord. Its natural shorelines
are primarily glacial sediment beaches and mudflats.
Seattle was settled where it is mainly because of Elliott
Bay’s unusual depth, which afforded extensive deep
water frontages for portage. There is approximately 12’
of tidal change on the shoreline, which registers against
the seawall. Extreme low tides lift the curtain on Puget
Sound’s hidden aquatic wonderlands.

Waves. Wind accounts for most of the waves on Elliott
Bay. Wind-waves approaching the Washington Street
Beach are expected to be strongly directional, based on
wind speeds and fetch exposure almost entirely from the
west to northwest.

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 17

SM
AIN
S

SJ
AC
KS
O

T

NS

T

T
ING
TO
NS
SW
AS
H

ER
WA
Y
YE
SL

JAMES ST

CHERRY ST

COLUMBIA ST

MARION ST

MADISON ST

SPRING ST

SENECA ST

UNION ST

PIKE ST

PINE ST

AR T
STE W

SK
ING

ST

BLAN

CHA

RD S

T

LENO

RA S

T

IN
VIRG

IA ST

ST

UNIVERSITY ST

QUALITATIVE CHARACTER

R6

3
PIE

R5

4

R5

PIE

5

R5

PIE

6

R5

PIE

R5
PIE

OC
CID

Authentic

EN

• Working Waterfront
• Historical
• Locals & Tourists

1s

tA
VE

PIE
CR R 66
UIS /
ES
HIP

S

PIE

R4

8

PIE

PIE

R6

3

2

• Event Waterfront
• Spectacle
• Locals & Tourists

• Carnival Waterfront
• Whimsical
• Predominately Tourists

PIE
CO R 52
FE LMA /
RR
Y T N DO
ER
MI CK/
NA
L

AQ
UA
R

IUM

Experiential

7

Fantastic

AL

PIE
PO RS 4
RT 7, 4
OF 6
SE
AT
T

LE

AS

Character Zones

The qualitative character of the Seawall Project’s
waterfront site changes from north to south.
Dichotomous relationships including private versus
public, large versus small, fantastic versus authentic, and
artificial versus natural inform the qualities of place.

Three character zones—experiential, fantastic, and
authentic—have been identified, the boundaries of
which are loosely defined by these dichotomies and
other conditions. While the edges between the three
zones are blurry and overlaps occur, they point to a way
of understanding the site that might not be apparent
through more analytic and quantitative diagrams.

Art projects developed in conjunction with the Seawall
Project may play into or off of the qualities described for
each.

The north end of the site is city-owned property and
includes quintessential places where Seattleites and
tourists alike gather for communal experiences of largescale spectacles both natural and cultural. The Seattle
Aquarium offers hands-on experience with marvels
of the marine environment. Pier 62/63 was the city’s
premier outdoor summer concert venue in the 1990s
and early 2000s. Collective memories of those events
color people’s visits to the waterfront today. Waterfront
Seattle’s concept plan includes features that will once
again activate Pier 62/63 with spectacle: a skating rink,
barge pool, stage, and grandstand. Not far south, Union
Street plaza is also conceived as an event landscape with
plans for a dramatic “cloud” water sculpture. The north
end of the site features spectacular sweeping views
of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound against a
backdrop of atmospheric skies. Experiences here are
of wonders that are large and real but otherworldly –
ranging from sunset skies to epic concerts to the Puget
Sound’s most curious creature, the giant Pacific octopus.

The piers in the central part of the site are privately
owned and teeming with a carnivalesque commercial
atmosphere geared toward tourists. This area offers a
theatrical version of the Seattle waterfront: sunset views
are supplanted by colorful electric lights while delusory
displays at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop substitute for the
scientific exhibits at the Seattle Aquarium. The mood
here is one of whimsy and fun, with attractions such as
the Great Wheel, the Bay Pavilion’s carousel and arcade,
Ivar’s Acres of Clams’ culinary fantasy of “world famous
clams,” Argosy Cruises’ thematic tours of Puget Sound,
and a continuous stream of buskers parading their
entertainments along the promenade. The fantastic
blend of fact and fiction might best be exemplified
by one of the waterfront’s oldest businesses, Ye Olde
Curiosity Shop located at Pier 54. For over a century it
has exhibited and sold a combination of genuine and
replica curios including Indian baskets, giant whale
bones, and more unusual specimens of sealife, including
a bona fide mermaid.

The south end of the site is a historically significant
part of Seattle: the city’s original working waterfront.
Like the north end, the land here is owned by public
agencies. The Washington Street Boat Landing, built
for the Seattle Harbor Department in 1920, stands as
a historic remnant. Colman Dock/Pier 52 has provided
ferry transportation through many incarnations starting
with nineteenth-century steamships and continuing
to today’s state-run ferry service. The monumental
cranes and containers of the Port of Seattle’s shipping
operations just south of the site are highly visible and
lend an aura of authenticity to the waterfront. Yesler’s
sawmill, historically located at the base of present-day
Yesler Way, was the first major commercial venture of
Seattle’s early settlers. Prior to that this area was a tidal
flat at the mouth of the Duwamish River and a locus of
work by Salish fishermen. The heart of this section of the
future waterfront will be a new beach designed to foster
the restoration of Seattle’s most authentic natural and
cultural symbol, the wild Pacific salmon.

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 19

ORIGIN OF 1889 FIRE

SPRING

ID
R

TIDE MARSH

SK

STEAM PLANT

OA
D

FRESH WATER FLUME

EXTENT OF 1889 FIRE

FIR
( W ST S
OO E W
D B ER
OX
)

FRE

SH
WA
TER

CRE

EK

HISTORIC CONDITIONS

FRONT ST (1ST AVE)
HISTORIC NATIVE WINTER CAMP

CURIOSITY SHOP
1901

RAVINE

RAVINE

FIR

ST

STEAM PLANT

BR

ICK

DOC MAYNARD’S
“SEATTLE EXCHANGE”

WESTERN AVE

YESLER’S WHARF/ MILL

SCHWABACHER’S
WHARF

PIKE ST
COAL BUNKER

ORIGINAL SHORELINE AND BLUFFS

EXTENT OF 1889 FIRE

RO
AD

BALLAST ISLAND
INDIAN CAMP

LOG BOOMS

GOLD RUSH IN
PIONEER SQUARE

ST
S
FER EAT T
RY LE

52
IER

ING

KS

AD TRAC
RAILRO

FISHERIES SUPPLY

POLYNESIAN

R1

/50

PIE

R2

PIE

/51

R4

9

CO
L

GR

AN

MA
N

DT

DO

RU

CK

NK

/P

PA
CIF

PUB
BO LIC
AT
LAN
D

AQUARIUM &
NAMU THE KILLER WHALE

CO
AL

CENTURY 21
SEA CIRCUS

BU

NK

ER

S

PIE

AS
OR
LEN

CURIOSITY SHOP
1917 -1988

WE

R
PIE
IC

/54
R3

PIE

PIE

/55
R4

/56
R5
PIE

MIL PIER
WA 6/5
UK 7
EE
PIE
R

F
AR
HW PIE
AB R 7
AC /58
HE
R’S
WH
SC

P
PIK IER 8
E S /59
TP
IER

P
FIS IER 6
H& 0&
SA 62
LT
PIE
R

GORST AIR
TRANSPORT

TP

IER

S

SHANTYTOWN

CO
NC
STA ERT G VIRG
AF INI
GE
FN A S
EY
T
DO &
CK
S

RAILROAD WAY

KALAKALA FERRY
MOSQUITO FLEET

Geologic History

Seattle lies within the central portion of the Puget
Sound Basin, a north-south topographic trough located
between the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains.
The area has been impacted by glaciation over the past
2.4 million years, with the most recent glacial episode
occurring about 13,500 years ago. The present Central
Waterfront sits atop glacial and non-glacial deposits
overlying bedrock. This geology is the result of repeated
cycles of glacial scouring and deposition, tectonic activity,

as well as landslides, shoreline erosion, and alluvial
deposition. However, large-scale earth-moving projects
by humans starting in the late 1800s account for the
greatest modifications to the shoreline. The western
edge of the waterfront was filled with soil removed
from hilltops in and around downtown. The south end
of the Central Waterfront, in the area of the former
Yesler sawmill, includes large deposits of wood debris
consisting of timbers, piles, mill ends, and sawdust.

Seismic History

The Central Waterfront is situated in an area where
numerous small to moderate and occasional large
earthquakes have occurred as a result of ongoing
movement and collision between tectonic plates. The
Seattle fault zone runs east-west across the south part
of the city. Certain non-glacial deposits, such as fill, are
prone to liquefaction from earthquakes of sufficient size
and duration.

20 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Transitional Shoreline

Two centuries ago Seattle’s waterfront was a natural
coastline with tree-covered bluffs, gravel beaches,
marshlands, mud flats, and an estuary at the mouth
of the Duwamish River. Coast Salish people occupied
villages in the area for many centuries. A primary village
was at a peninsula on Elliott Bay, close to present-day
King Street Station. The founding of Seattle is usually
dated from the arrival of the Denny Party in 1851.
Starting with Henry Yesler’s sawmill at the base of what

STEAM PLANT
ORIGIN OF 1889 FIRE

SPRING

ID
R

PRESENT CONDITIONS
HISTORIC CONDITIONS

OA
D

FRESH WATER FLUME

EXTENT OF 1889 FIRE

RESTORED CONDITIONS

TIDE MARSH

SK

FUTURE CONDITIONS

FRE

KEY:

FIR
( W ST S
OO E W
D B ER
OX
)

SH
WA
TER

CRE

EK

HISTORIC, PRESENT, AND FUTURE CONDITIONS

RESTORED SEAWALL
FRONT ST (1ST AVE)
HISTORIC NATIVE WINTER CAMP

CURIOSITY SHOP
1901

RAVINE

RAVINE

FIR

ST

STEAM PLANT

BR

ICK

PIKE PLACE MARKET

DOC MAYNARD’S
“SEATTLE EXCHANGE”

WESTERN AVE

TIDELINE PROMENADE

ST
S
FER EAT T
RY LE

R
PIE

CURIOSITY SHOP
1917 -1988

IER

WASHINGTON ST.
BEACH

CK

S.O.

PUB
BO LIC
AT
LAN
DIN
G

52

IC
PA
CIF
NK

DO

RU

MA
N

DT
AN

KS

R4
PIE

/51

FISHERIES SUPPLY

R1

POLYNESIAN

/50

PIE

R2

GORST AIR
TRANSPORT

AD TRAC
RAILRO

9

CO
L

SEATTLE
FIREBOAT

C.S.O.

/P

ILI
R3

SA

IVAR’S
FIRE HOUSE

HA

OU
AR
&C
HE
EA
TW

ARGOSY
CRUISES

GOLD RUSH IN
PIONEER SQUARE

ALASKAN WAY
C.S.O.

/54

YE OLDE
CURIOSITY
SHOP

PIE

CH

T’S

EN

“LE

BIT
AT
B

PIE

GO

/55
R4

/56
R5

HA

SE

L

BIT
AT
B

EN

CH

MIL PIER
WA 6/5
UK 7
EE
PIE
R

NG
”

OVERLOOK

HISTORIC PIER WALK

GR

AQUARIUM &
NAMU THE KILLER WHALE

D WAY

RAILROA

BU

NK

ER

S

PIE

“BARGE
POOL”

S.O.

GR

C.S.O.

EL

EX
PA
NS
HW PIE
IO
N
AB R 7
AC /58
HE
R’S
WH
AR
F

IUM
AQ
UA
R

“THE CLOUD”

SC

HA

S
IER
TP
AS

ROLLER
SKATING
RINK

LEN

OR

AQ
UA
R

CH
EN
BIT
AT
B

3
2/6
R6
PIE
SHANTYTOWN

PIUM
PIK IER 8
E S /59
TP
IER

BELLTOWN BLUFF
S.O.

S.O.

UNION ST PIER

PIE

AQUARIUM
PLAZA

BALLAST ISLAND
INDIAN CAMP

LOG BOOMS

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT

WE

OVERLOOK WALK

AMPHITHEATER
STEPS

YESLER’S WHARF/ MILL

SCHWABACHER’S
WHARF

PIKE ST
COAL BUNKER

ORIGINAL SHORELINE AND BLUFFS

EXTENT OF 1889 FIRE

RO
AD

FE

ST

IVA

LP

IER

CO
AL

CENTURY 21
SEA CIRCUS

KALAKALA FERRY
MOSQUITO FLEET

NATIVE AMERICAN CANOES
FERRIES

came to be known as Yesler Way, nineteenth-century
Anglo-American settlers built a series of wood piers
against the original shoreline. The piers soon after
burned. By then growth was booming and waterfront
landowners quickly rebuilt the shoreline while at the
same time filling in its tidal edge to create more dry land.
A rail line was installed on trestles inland of the piers and
much commerce followed.

In the first part of the twentieth century the seawall was
installed, which then allowed the tidal area under the
trestle railroad to be filled. In more recent years shipping
has surged, but the primary portage has moved south to
the mouth of what is now a channelized Duwamish River.
The “work” of the Central Waterfront has shifted toward
tourism and entertainment, though ferries still transfer
people to places around Puget Sound.

Past, Present and Future Meet and Merge

The waterfront has and will always be a place in
transition. Indeed, Murray Morgan in his quintessential
historic account of Seattle, Skid Road, says, “...here on
the waterfront Seattle’s history and Seattle’s future meet
and merge” (Morgan, p. 3). Mapping Seattle’s past,
present, and future conditions together reveals curious
overlaps ranging from land over water, industry over
landform, and recreation over work. Also revealed are
places where history has stood fairly still: boats have

long been used as a main form of transportation on
Elliott Bay, and the central piers and Washington Street
Boat Landing have been in place since the early 20th
century.
Art along the seawall can layer the past onto the present
and future. However, art should avoid being didactic
or interpretive, and instead look to historic events as
inspiration for present-day experiences.

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 21

seawall stories
Coast Salish

Puget Sound is an ancestral home of the Coast
Salish peoples. When settlers arrived in the 1850s
more than 50 tribes called it home. The Duwamish
is the Salish tribe most associated with Seattle’s
Central Waterfront, having had encampments
and a village at the mouth of the Duwamish River.
Coast Salish tribes shared a common language
called Lushootseed and many cultural traditions.
Living in cool houses of grass mats in the summer
and communal longhouses of split cedar in the
rainy winter, they lived near rivers, lakes, or Puget
Sound. Their primary means of transportation
was by water, usually in dugout cedar canoes.
They gathered shellfish, berries, camas, and other
plants for food and medicine; hunted deer and
other game; and fished by net, trap, weir, club,
and hook and line for fish of all types. But by far
the most important was salmon.

Salmon People

For the First Peoples of Puget Sound, salmon
were one of many kinds of deeply powerful
protean beings called Animal People. They had
superhuman abilities and eternal lives. A being
called Moon the Transformer turned the Animal
People into physical beings. In one story, the
Salmon People kidnapped Moon and brought
him to earth and raised him. As Moon grew up
and realized his powers he changed the Salmon
People into food for humans. There was confusion
with this transformation. Moon at first told the
Salmon People to go downstream to the ocean,
but then changed his mind and had them come
back upstream. Since then, salmon have traveled
back and forth between the ocean and streams.
The Animal People were transformed but did not
disappear. Salmon have retained their power,
sustaining people through their bodies and spirits.

siʔaːƛ̓

Chief ˈsiʔaːƛ̓ (Si’ahl or Sealth), Seattle’s namesake,
was the dxʷdɐwʔabʃ (Dkhw’Duw’Absh or
Duwamish) chief when Anglo settlers arrived
at Elliott Bay. He is perhaps best known for a
speech he made in 1854 as his people were
considering a proposal from the governor to move
to a reservation. He spoke in the Lushootseed
language, which was translated to English by way
of Chinook jargon. There was a time when our
people covered the land as the waves of a windruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor. Our people
are ebbing away like a rapidly receding tide
that will never return. Even the rocks thrill with
memories of stirring events connected with the
lives of my people. And when the memory of my
tribe shall have become a myth among the White
Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible
dead of my tribe. The dead are not powerless.
Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change
of worlds.

22 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Doc Maynard’s Seattle Exchange

No one person was more influential in the founding
of Seattle than Doc Maynard. From giving prime
land to early settlers who he knew would add to the
community, to doctoring immigrants and Native
Americans often without pay, to supporting his
friend Chief Sealth and other Salish during times
of conflict, his generosity and vision for the future
shaped Seattle. Maynard learned to speak Salish
and advocated for tribes, becoming the “Special
Indian Agent” when tensions grew between tribes
and settlers. After they moved across the Sound
for safety, he supplied the Salish with lumber and
food. Maynard started the first store, the Seattle
Exchange, located at Front and Washington Street.
It became a de facto community center where
Seattleites and tribes could get not only groceries
and supplies, but also be doctored and post mail.
In many ways the Seattle Exchange represents
the exchange of cultures and generosity that
permeates the vision for art on the waterfront.

Yesler Mill

Henry Yesler came to Seattle looking for a
waterfront site for a sawmill and found the best
land to be a “sag” where there was level ground
and deep water. The land was at the seam
between land claims of Seattle founders Carson
Boren and Doc Maynard. Knowing the mill would
bring growth through jobs, workers, and ships, and
that this would cause land values to rise, Boren
and Maynard donated a strip of land to Yesler. In
addition to this strip of land heading uphill from
the waterfront, Yesler acquired large areas upland
that were then covered with trees. Those timbers
were cut and then skidded downhill to the sawmill
where they were milled to size and loaded onto
ships at Yesler’s wharf, to be transported to San
Francisco and other areas. Yesler Mill became the
economic engine of early Seattle, and employed
immigrants and Native Americans alike. Other
buildings on the property became community
gathering places, including a cookhouse and a hall
for traveling shows of minstrels, ventriloquists,
and actors. Yesler’s Mill and Wharf burned in
different fires.

Alaskan Way Viaduct

The massive Alaskan Way Viaduct, part of
Washington State Route 99, is a double-decked
concrete structure running parallel with the
shoreline. It was built in the 1950s to alleviate
traffic congestion, which had become an
impediment to moving cargo on the waterfront
after the seawall was constructed, tidal lands
filled in, and the four-lane Alaskan Way built on
top of it. Alaskan Way was being used as a bypass
around downtown, which slowed the movement
of trucks. Though early planning options included
a tunnel, the Viaduct was instead built. While
it sped traffic flows through (or over) Seattle, it
also severed the relationship between downtown
and the Central Waterfront. The space under the
Viaduct is unappealing and creates a huge physical
barrier. After being damaged by the Nisqually
Earthquake in 2001, the Viaduct is being removed
and its transportation function will be taken
up by a two-mile tunnel and improved surface
streets. Seattle has a love/hate relationship with
the Viaduct, which while blocking views between
downtown and the waterfront also provides
magnificent views of Elliott Bay and the Olympic
Mountains.

Land Claims & City Plats

When platting Seattle’s township in 1853, the
four original claimants could not agree on a street
orientation. Doc Maynard surveyed his land,
in the south end of town, parallel to the water.
Since the coastline ran fairly north-south, he ran
his streets true to the compass. Denny and Boren
also platted their land parallel to the bay, but since
the bay curved, their plats were not oriented with
the cardinal points. Maynard and Boren’s plats
met in a tangle of mismatched roads at Mill Street
(now Yesler Way) where there was a curve in the
bay. A similar mismatch occurs where Denny and
Bell’s plats met at what is now Stewart Street. The
skewed grid of streets with angled intersections
and remnant triangular spaces remains a feature
of downtown Seattle’s street grid, extending to
the waterfront.

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

A landmark souvenir shop, art gallery, and
museum of Northwest Native American culture, Ye
Olde Curiosity Shop has been located on Seattle’s
Central Waterfront and owned by four generations
of the same family since its founding in 1899.
Joseph Standley started the shop at Madison
and Front Street with his personal collection of
natural wonders and Indian artifacts, which he
supplemented by trading with local Indians and
sea captains. Seattle was undergoing the boom of
the Klondike Gold Rush at the time, and the shop
prospered. By the time Standley exhibited at the
1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the Curiosity
Shop had become famous for its collection, which
supplied artifacts to many museums. Following
its move from Madison Street, the shop was
located on Colman Dock for over 50 years. After
some years on Pier 51 it moved with its collection
of over a million objects to its current location
on Pier 54. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop houses a mix
of curiosities and significant art objects ranging
from tribal artworks to bizarre items like shrunken
heads and mummies to dime store souvenirs.

Tidelines

On Elliott Bay, cyclical time is registered through
tidelines. Moons wax and wane, hillsides are
sluiced into the bay, seas rise, land subsides.
Tidelines continue to mark their presence against
this ever-changing shoreline. They are the elusive
tipping point between the land and the sea.
Tidelines are a conceptual and organizational
framing device for Waterfront Seattle’s concept
plan. Physical, tectonic, and material properties
of the design evoke horizontal depositions and
vertical registrations inspired by the shifting tidal
waters of Elliott Bay. Tidelines, which have always
existed on the Central Waterfront, will continue
into the future, linking the present with the past
and future.

Century 21

Century 21, the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair,
provided Seattle with its landmark Space Needle
and Seattle Center campus. Often forgotten is
how the Fair ushered in a new wave of waterfront
attractions that highlighted the region’s marine
life through a lens of entertainment. Ivar Haglund
had laid the foundation with his Pier 54 Aquarium
from 1938 to 1956. Century 21 brought to Pier
56 the Seattle Marine Aquarium, predecessor
to the current Seattle Aquarium. It featured
a 20,000-gallon tank, 600-pound dolphin, and
later an orca whale named Namu. The Seattle
Sea Circus, which included daily performances
of sea lions, porpoises, and banjo-playing seals,
was located between Piers 50 and 51. At the end
of Pier 51 a popular exotic Polynesian restaurant
was built, lasting until ferry terminal expansion
in 1981. Several “boatels” were docked at the
waterfront and provided accommodations for Fair
visitors. Century 21 coincided with Port of Seattle
innovations in container shipping to the south. In
many ways, the World’s Fair marked the transition
of the Central Waterfront from a place for marine
industrial use to a place for tourism, nostalgia,
leisure, views, play, and fantastical entertainment.
ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 23

vision for art

ecology, economy, and community in exchange

Indian camp with canoes, Ballast Island at the foot of
Washington Street, ca. 1891, in the midst of a transition
and exchange between Coast Salish tribes and AngloAmerican settlers (University of Washington Libraries,
Special Collections, NA 680)
24 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLANâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;JANUARY 2013

PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK

Amplify the Edge Condition

Create a Fluidity of Space and Time

Renew Sustainable Interconnections

Conceive of Art as Exchange

The Elliott Bay Seawall defines Seattle’s primary
edge, where land meets sea. The wall is a dynamic
seam where a myriad of elements, forces, and life
forms interact in unique and complex ways. This
edge represents a concentration of abundance for
both human and non-human life. For wildlife it is
rich in natural resources and conditions that promote
ecological processes such as salmon migration.
For humans, the waterfront’s value resides in its
economic engines of shipping and commerce, as well
as its dazzling views and connections to nature that
provide psychological, cultural, aesthetic, ecological,
and recreational assets. Art incorporated into the
Seawall Project will articulate this edge as the physical,
conceptual, and psychological spine of Seattle’s Central
Waterfront.

The Coast Salish tribes once formed seasonal
encampments concentrated along Puget Sound’s
bountiful shorelines, where waterways served as
primary conduits of food and transportation. For
hundreds of years the ecological system that supported
their culture fostered an ethic of moderation and
respect for the natural environment. With the
nineteenth-century advent of Anglo-American
development of the region, the wealth of civilization
expanded at the expense of nature’s abundance.
Through recognition of this imbalance it has become
apparent that nature is no longer a force separate from
human activity. Humanity and nature are entwined.
The Elliott Bay Seawall Project is striving to renew
dynamic and ecologically sustainable interconnections
between the marine realm and human realm for future
generations.

The consciousness of Puget Sound’s indigenous peoples
was characterized by a fluidity of space and time where
land was thought of not as privately owned property
but instead as a cultivated shared resource. Life was
organized around natural patterns like tides and seasons,
and time was conceived as a cyclical continuum in which
the past and future were alive in the present. Markedly
different is the Anglo-American concept of linear time,
systems of personal land ownership, and the fervor for
commerce that has shaped Seattle’s waterfront. The
replacement of the seawall allows Seattle to reshape
its edge as, in the words of Waterfront Seattle, a
“waterfront for all.” Access for all species will expand
and shared places will be reestablished, reconnecting
people with nature and the understanding that activities
in the present work within a continuum of time.

Underpinning the art vision for the Seawall
Project is a philosophy of exchange that strives
to illuminate and originate simultaneous and
shared experiences of space and time, art and
science, and human and marine that articulate
the edge of the Central Waterfront.

In his incisive exploration of Seattle’s environmental
history, Emerald City, Matthew Klingle asserts that as
salmon return to the city, “they seem to swim out of
nature and into culture.” Conversely, it might be said
that as humans move away from the center city and
toward the water they shift out of culture and into
nature. As Seattle’s waterfront edge, the reconstructed
Elliott Bay Seawall is a place where interactions between
the cultural and natural, or human and marine, worlds
will occur. If conceived to foster moments of meaningful
exchange in these interactions, the seawall and its art
can stimulate the city to reestablish its environmental
ethic and reinvent its future.

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 25

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Prompt an expanded Exchange between natural and cultural worlds by heightening interactions amongst elements and life forms present in the Seawall’s human and marine realms.

HUMAN HABITAT ‘SHELF’

HUMAN REALM

MARINE REALM

MARINE HABITAT ‘SHELVES’

SPATIAL EXCHANGE

TEMPORAL EXCHANGE

Explore the vertical layering of the seawall—an edge where human and marine habitats coexist.

Create an exchange between the past, present, and future of the Seattle waterfront.

The pedestrian promenade that will result from the Seawall Project occupies a spatial envelope along the
waterfront’s edge that is horizontally narrow but vertically expansive. In the majority of locations the sidewalk
cantilevers out from the seawall, hovering over the water. This creates a unique edge in which “human habitat”
is layered over “marine habitat.” In a sense, fish will swim under the human realm and into culture while people
walk over the marine realm and into nature. The seawall face will be punctuated with “habitat shelves” to enhance
marine life along the shoreline. The cantilevered promenade can be thought of as a habitat shelf for humans. Tides
will move up and down the seawall beneath this human habitat shelf, further merging natural and cultural flows.
This vertical column of common space is a place where resources that affect both the human and marine realms—
light, water, habitat, sound, and others—must be nurtured for shared mutual benefit. Art can work within this
stratified envelope to foster and express a spatial exchange, or permeability, between the two realms.

Art can express the temporal exchange of nature and culture through stories. Storytellers weave narratives designed
to interest, amuse, remember, or instruct. While the most enthralling stories are often rooted in real events­, a
merging of the fictitious with fact, illusion with memory, can produce a captivating artistic lens through which to
communicate the human condition. Site-specific artists are often storytellers who relay conditions of place. Just
as narrated stories can jump between historic, contemporary, and futuristic periods, stories told through art along
the seawall can thread together different time frames. Art can unearth tales of Seattle’s growth embodied in
the waterfront’s constructed land while envisioning and stimulating its future development. These stories of the
seawall should reflect both the shifting edge where land meets water and the fluctuating relationship between
human and marine life that has occurred there. Artists relating these ebbs and flows of life on the waterfront
can act as minstrels­ (interpreting stories of the past), magicians (improvising stories of the present), and fortune
tellers (predicting stories of the future). An exchange of knowledge and philosophy occurring across this temporal
layering will be revelatory. Artist-inventors of these chimerical tales of the seawall can either set the stage for an
improvisational theater of the urban environment or be on location as primary players within the performance.

26 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Implement the concept of Exchange through art that performs the following actions:

MARINE
REALM

ART

HUMAN
REALM

ATTRACTING

EXPERIMENTING

Conceive of art as a “magnet” that attracts both Invent art that operates as a test site,
manipulating and synthesizing environmental
human and marine life and forms a field of
phenomena to act as both a catalyst and
exchange between the two realms.
barometer of ecological function.
Art that works at the seam of the human and marine
realms of the waterfront can generate a conceptual
“magnetic field” that draws nature and culture into
closer contact. Magnetic fields form unique properties
that can reassemble an environment. Forces of
attraction go to work on things that enter these fields,
inciting unexpected relationships that might not exist
outside the field. Art can create a similar aura around it
that triggers new attractions and relationships between
parts of the environment that might not otherwise
interact. It can also act as an attraction that draws
people from afar to the waterfront.

Like science, art is about experimenting. Site-specific
artists seek to investigate place-based systems, stories,
processes and materials that support and broaden the
concepts of their research and exploration. They look to
engage in collaborative work with engineers, ecologists
and designers to test innovative ideas. The Elliott Bay
Seawall Project is conducting experimental installations
to test wall textures and light penetrating surfaces to
determine the best methods for improving the shoreline
ecosystem of Elliott Bay and restore the juvenile salmon
migration corridor. Similarly, artists should treat the site
as a laboratory for creating work that fuses scientific
and artistic insight with a goal of deepening an exchange
between human and marine realms and revealing
project science as wonder. Artworks can be conceived
as incubators that test and direct possibilities for future
developments on the waterfront.

REVEALING

WAYFINDING

Use art to articulate and reveal hidden systems
of nature, culture, history and infrastructure at
work on the site.

Design and locate art in such a way that it aids
in the navigation of both human and marine
species through the site.

Seattle’s waterfront is deeply layered with invisible
mechanisms, events, geologies, ecologies, stories and
phenomena that have significantly influenced and will
continue to inform its physical, functional, natural,
commercial, and social character. Sometimes these
latent conditions are literally buried or underwater,
sometimes they are ephemera long since gone but
which have altered what remains, sometimes they
are still visible in the landscape but have lost their
meanings, and sometimes they are aspirations for
the future. These hidden systems and stories of the
past, present, and future are part of the workings of
the waterfront; affecting its ecology, economy and
community. Artists should look to the site as a source of
inspiration, revealing both generalities and peculiarities
of place that resonate with the concepts and themes
they are exploring. This articulation can bring deeper
significance and revelation to the public’s experience of
the waterfront edge.

Essential to the way in which a place is experienced and
comprehended is the manner by which it is navigated. In
the case of the Seawall Project this holds true for both
human and marine species. The Tideline Promenade will
make the waterfront clear for humans to navigate and
Seawall Project artworks will be a foundational step in
the “constellation of sites” described in A Working Plan
for Art on the Central Waterfront as a wayfinding device.
Using art to assist people with finding the waterfront
from the east is also important, as are schemes for
art that provides wayfinding during construction. For
juvenile salmon migrating to the ocean, the Seattle
Waterfront presents a bewildering maze of open water
and piers, shallow and deep water, light and darkness.
The Seawall Project aims to aid marine species in
their navigation through the site by implementing a
continuous band of light penetrating paving surfaces and
other habitat enhancements along the shoreline. Art
can expand on these strategies while also creating an
alternate wayfinding system for people that might offer a
new understanding of the waterfront’s marine realm.

The principal commissions for the Seawall Project are
envisioned as experimental, site-specific conceptual
artworks integrated and engaged with their context to
form a continuously transforming medium of exchange
between site systems and art interventions.
Integrated Art. For permanent art in particular
integrated art can be interpreted as work that is
conceptually and spatially fused with the Seawall
Project’s physical surfaces, structures, systems, and
utilities. It can also be interpreted as a fusion with
project goals of rebuilding infrastructure and fostering
environmental sustainability.
Experimental Art. While the approach of creating
integrated art implies art aligned with its site, the art
must avoid being a decorative application of pattern
and color and instead layer an explorative conceptual
meaning or alternate method of inquiry onto the site.
The art should be considered experimental in the sense
that it is working with and testing ideas, concepts,
methods, materials and phenomena related to the
broader concept of stimulating exchange between
human and marine realms.
The art is envisioned as being responsive to site
phenomena, reflecting the Pacific Northwest
environment, and creating memorable experiences for
both frequent and infrequent visitors to the waterfront.

Thematic Commissions

Artists commissioned for the principal art opportunities
will create work informed by the visions for art described
in both the Elliott Bay Seawall Project Art Programming
Plan and A Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle
Waterfront. Each artist will explore a unique theme or
medium for their work, tying it to specific conditions of
the site. The thematic media identified in this plan—
habitat, light, utility, and sound—have been selected
because of their correlations with the overarching
concept of stimulating exchange between the human
and marine realms: they are each potential conduits for
such exchange. The themes are intended as inspirational
starting points. Artists will explore the site at large;
seeing, hearing, feeling, learning, intuiting. It is possible
that an artist might find inspiration from a quality of
the site and project that has not yet been identified, or
explore several overlapping media in their work.
The principal commissions could result in one major
work or a choreographed series of linked works.
While it is anticipated that the art will be permanent
and integrated into Seawall Project components,
ephemeral or event-based work or some combination of
permanent and temporary media is also possible. Artists
commissioned for principal commissions may design a
permanent artwork as well as a temporary installation
that foretells the permanent piece.
In addition to the four thematic commissions herein
called Sculpted Habitat, Penetrating Light, Aquatic Utility,
and Puget Soundings, opportunities for the Seawall
Project design team artists to apply aesthetic treatments
to certain functional components of the project have
been identified and are described under the heading,
Seawall Reveal.

Site Selection

As part of their concept exploration, artists working on
principal commissions will engage with representatives
of the City of Seattle, Seawall Project design team,
Waterfront Seattle, and other stakeholders to select
the most appropriate locations for the art projects they
envision.

The interplay of the conceptual framework of
articulating an exchange between the human
and marine realms with the spatial conditions
of the seawall site suggests a typology of art
that is integrated with the forms and functions
of the project.

Specific sites suggested in this plan are within the limits
of the Elliott Bay Seawall Project’s restored public realm.
They have been identified because of their relation
to particular themes, positioning at intersections of
human and marine realms, and factors such as visibility,
interesting phenomena, and technical requirements.
It may be possible to site art on waterfront property
not within the Seawall Project limits, though review by
proper agencies and landowners outside of the project
would be required.
It is essential that the process of site selections be
undertaken holistically, considering the relationships of
the sites and artworks within the context of each other
and the Waterfront Seattle design and art vision in its
entirety. Synergies, dialogues and exchanges between
the sites selected by different artists will emerge. Those
relationships will be explored and tied to the waterfront
narrative as a whole, forming the first grouping of
projects within an emerging “constellation of sites”
envisioned as a structure for art and wayfinding in A
Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle Waterfront.
The process of creating these connections and exchanges
will elicit a meaningful exchange between artworks and
other waterfront elements.

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 29

Seawall Reveal
The Seawall Reveal artworks suggest aesthetic treatment of several functional
elements that are occurring as part of the base project. The treatments suggested
will imbue these elements with conceptual meaning that ties to the project’s goals
of attracting habitat, experimenting with environmental phenomena, revealing
history, and exploring the Tidelines concept through art. These pieces are also an
opportunity to create recurring work that appears intermittently across the public
realm, unifying, punctuating, and bookending it.
The face of the seawall articulates the edge where water meets land. It is the spine
of Seattle’s waterfront. While in many ways the seawall will be an engineered
structure, it is also a dynamic seam where a myriad of elements, forces, and life
forms interact in complex ways. The Seawall Project includes a critical goal to
improve ecosystem functions and processes along this edge. While substrate
improvements to the marine floor west of the seawall are part of that agenda, a
primary piece is roughening the wall face with texture and shelves. That surface
is a fantastic canvas for a sculptural relief that can merge conceptual meaning
with functional requirements. A similar merging of metaphor with functional
requirements to improve marine habitat might occur in discrete locations along the
light penetrating paving surfaces.

• Create recurring pieces that appears intermittently across the public realm, unifying, punctuating, and
bookending it.
• Promote the growth of marine life and biodiversity.
• Illuminate, reveal, and contribute to the ecological and habitat conditions of the seawall, Elliott Bay, and Puget
Sound.
• Explore art that is responsive to tidal shifts.
• Consider art that changes over time due to marine growth and other environmental forces.
• Tie art to site history.
• Ensure that artwork meets all structural requirements.
• Paving grate materials at entry to Colman Dock will need review and approval by Washington State Department
of Transportation.

Yesler Way Paving Grate: The light penetrating pedestrian paving surface at the foot of Yesler Way, crossing over
the channel through which fish enter the new migration corridor, is proposed to be metal grating. Creating an
artist-designed metal grating is an opportunity to illustrate site history while also tying the promenade to the
real-time ecological function of a light penetrating surface. Yesler Way is historically significant as the seam
where the plats of two of the city’s founders, Maynard and Boren, come together in an irregular way. This
historic moment registers along Yesler Way just east of the waterfront, where different street grids still meet.
The shifted grid could be reflected in the grating design. Other historically significant aspects of this location—
such as Yesler Mill, Ballast Island, an early incarnation of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, and even a sea animal circus
during Seattle’s 1962 Century 21 celebration­—could be reflected in the artwork in such a way that they tie to the
fish channel below. This piece could be designed in conjunction with the Aquarium Bridge Grate to bookend the
project site.

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Seawall Texture: The seawall face panels will be
textured to enhance habitat function along the entire
length of the waterfront. Areas where those panels
will be visible—such as at the Aquarium where
the promenade will be cut back to allow sunlight
penetration to the water below, and potentially at
pier slips—present an opportunity to design the wall
texture as an artwork. The art treatment could both
reveal and augment the function of using the seawall
as a device for habitat enhancement. Because the
seawall face is the waterfront element against which
tides register most visibly, art can also be used here
to reveal this tidal phenomenon.

ST

Aquarium Bridge Grate: A service entry bridging
the promenade to the Aquarium is proposed to be
a metal grate, similar to that at the entry to the fish
channel at Yesler Way. Creating an artist-designed
metal grating is an opportunity to illustrate site
history. Also similar to the condition at Yesler Way
is the shift in street grids that occurs here. Stewart
Street, just east of the Aquarium, indicates where
the plats of two of the city’s founders, Denny
and Bell, come together in an irregular way. The
shifted grid could be reflected in the grating design.
Another possibility is to expand on art concepts
explored in the seawall face panels at the Aquarium
site. This piece could be designed in conjunction
with the Yesler Way Grate to bookend the project
site, particularly if the two pieces work together to
tell an idiosyncratic story of city founders.

• Intertidal species occupy the shoreline in horizontal strata, or microhabitats, that are formed based on:
* physical factors (salinity, wave action, light, temperature, et cetera);
* biological factors (predation, competition, herbivory, et cetera).
• Intertidal species exhibit secondary growth patterns, in which one species colonizes on top of another.

• Texture of wall panels and shelves mimics the variety of the marine life it is trying to attract.
• Horizontal strata of panel textures are based on habitat strata of the intertidal zone in Elliott Bay.
• Habitat strata are inherently tied to tidal zones, so Seawall Reveal “Habitat Strata” concept ties to Waterfront
Seattle “Tidelines” design concept.

Puget Sound is an astounding natural wonder
fronting Seattle. Improving marine habitat
along the city’s waterfront edge is a primary
focus of the Seawall Project. There are
opportunities for an artist to create work
that reveals, responds to, and supports
ecological and tidal conditions of the seawall,
promenade, and Elliott Bay. Working closely
with project engineers, biologists, ecologists,
and designers, the artist will develop artwork
that relates to the complex ecology of the
site, both interpreting and expanding ways in
which the seawall and its new public spaces
perform concurrently as infrastructure and
habitat. This is a unique opportunity to
create art that transcends illustrating science
to become a poetic mechanism of ecological
restoration. The art should be inventive and
engaging; manipulating, synthesizing, and
drawing attention to the many environmental
phenomena at work along the waterfront.
The vision for this commission is that the
resulting artworks act as both catalysts for
and barometers of ecological function along
the restored waterfront. The art should
be experimental, combining unique forms,
materials, and methods with the dynamics of
the waterfront’s natural systems to result in
work transformed by its exchange with nature.

Washington Street Habitat Beach: The primary site for this commission is currently imagined as a new habitat
beach near the historic Washington Street Boat Landing. In this location the “face” of the seawall will be
softened with a beach that is being designed to provide an important respite for juvenile salmon in their
migratory route. This location has great historical significance for Seattle as part of the pre-development tidal
flats at the mouth of the Duwamish River, a Native American encampment, and the location of the city’s first
economic engine, Yesler Sawmill (at the base of the historic “skid road”). Art here is envisioned to support the
ecological objectives of the beach and/or relate to Waterfront Seattle’s Tidelines concept. The artist might also
collaborate with the design team to incorporate art concepts into functional design elements of the site such as
rock arms to protect habitat, pedestrian access above the mean high water line, and viewing platforms.

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Habitat Benches: Several “habitat benches” (shallow
water areas with substrates that support the growth
of marine life, such as shells and gravel, cobble and
kelp) are incorporated along the seawall to improve
habitat. These locations could incorporate art that is
carefully placed so as not to inhibit habitat.

• established artist with design team experience
• commitment to scientific exploration and/or
ecological processes as part of creative practice

Illuminate, reveal, and contribute to the ecological conditions of the seawall, Elliott Bay, and Puget Sound.
Use art to support the growth of marine life and creation of biodiversity at the site.
Consider creating art that acts as a habitat structure for marine life and a sculpture for people.
Explore art that is responsive to tidal shifts.
Consider art that changes over time due to marine growth and other environmental forces.
Acknowledge site history.
Strict fill limits in the intertidal zone must be considered: no new “dry land” can be created unless its purpose is
to create habitat and its materiality represents features that might naturally occur in Elliott Bay.
• Avoid creating overwater cover that causes shade in the water, which inhibits marine life.
• Avoid barriers that could inhibit fish passage.
• Certain forms of intertidal work may require challenging permitting. Close coordination with the Seawall Project
environmental team at early phases of proposal development is recommended.

• Avoid overwater cover that causes shade in the
water, which inhibits marine life.
• Avoid barriers that could inhibit fish passage.
• The Seawall Project has established limits to the
amount of fill that may be placed in tidal areas.
Art must be designed to work within these limits
and should be coordinated with other project fill
elements. This condition may pose challenges for
certain types of artwork, such as islands.
• Intertidal work may require permitting.
• Art and sculptural landforms above the 12’ elevation
mark, such as on the tops of jetties and at the top of
the beach, are feasible.
• Artistic design of the surfaces of project elements
in the tidal area, such as sides of jetties, is feasible if
suitable materials are used.
• Materials that are naturally occurring in Elliott Bay
can be used in tidal areas.

Indian dugout canoes in the harbor, foot of Washington Street, ca. 1891
(University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, NA 897)

Penetrating Light
Light is a defining quality of Seattle. Puget Sound’s northern
latitude creates a wide fluctuation in sunlight hours throughout
the year. During winter, sun rarely penetrates a dense cloud
cover, while in summer’s dry months sunlight is bountiful. The
Central Waterfront, with its fantastic sunsets and colorful night
illumination, is a place where light can be celebrated. This
commission is an opportunity to work with and contribute to the
natural and artificial light at play on the waterfront.

Light plays a critical role in creating a healthy environment for both
human and marine life: both species are drawn to light. Current
waterfront conditions are such that juvenile salmon do not swim
under dark piers, opting instead to swim around them in lighter but
deeper water that has limited food supply and increased numbers
of predators. The Seawall Project includes design elements that
will expand and balance light levels in the marine environment
adjacent to the seawall, encouraging migrating salmon to hug a
re-created light-filled shoreline where water is shallower and food
more plentiful. Light penetrating surfaces (LPS) in the cantilevered
ground plane will allow sunlight to illuminate the water below. The
design team is conceiving the LPS and other promenade paving
elements as a unified surface that will thoughtfully evoke the
migration of salmon below.
This commission presents an opportunity to create art that
manipulates light in the human and/or marine realm. The work
could be an atmospheric piece that attracts people to the water’s
edge, or it could contribute to the ecological functionality of the
marine environment. The art might provide a poetic interpretation
of light penetrating into the marine environment, revealing and
celebrating its nurturing of the life that occurs there. The merging
of nature and culture that occurs in the ancient ritual of salmon
migration is a radiant wonder.
38 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Overlook at Pier Slip: The public realm includes a triangular deck suspended over the water at a slip between
Piers 54 & 55 that presents a site for art. This location provides pedestrians with a place to step off the main
path and get close to the water’s edge. It also functions to “square off” the space between the piers, putting
its edge perpendicular to the adjacent piers. Because it is important for the ecological function of the water
and habitat bench beneath it that the overlook not create excessive shade, its floor will be designed as a light
penetrating surface. The overlook is an opportunity for art intervenetions and artist-designed variations on
certain design elements. This artwork must work with the project engineering that supports the standard design
elements.

Tideline Promenade: The nearly three-quarter mile long promenade that cantilevers over the water will
incorporate light penetrating surfaces (LPS) of glass and metal grating to stream sunlight to a salmon
migration corridor hugging the seawall. This is a key piece of the Tideline Promenade and is being designed
by james corner field operations in conjunction with the rest of the promenade public realm elements
to create a cohesive waterfront edge. The design concept is to evoke a sense of the aquatic life moving
under the feet. An artist collaboration with jcfo and the design team could result in an overlay of art that
compliments the design vision. It is recommended that the artist commissioned for this opportunity study
phenomena of light along the site and region as a whole and then identify possible opportunities and
methods of incorporating art into the project to bring poetic resonance to the waterfront and ecological and
urban design goals of the project around the theme and medium of light. Concepts proposed by the artist will
be gauged partially in terms of their applicability to the overall vision for the Tideline Promenade.

CHERRY ST

• established artist
• experience using natural and/or artificial light as a
primary artistic medium in past work

•

COLUMBIA ST

•
•

MADISON ST

Artist Qualifications

Use natural and artificial illumination to attract people from the human realm and fish from the marine realm.
Create sculptural and/or light-based assemblages that amplify light in both human and marine habitats.
Consider combining sun-activated materials for daytime effects with electric light for nighttime effects.
Consider using photovoltaic energy to power artwork effects, tying into project goals of sustainability and
enhancing the use of sunlight.
Consider changes in light that are responsive to environmental factors like tidal shifts, seasonality, salmon
migration, or interactions with people.
Explore optical properties of light such as refraction, reflection, diffraction, dispersion and magnification.
Take special care to use proper light angles, shields, and colors to avoid casting excessive light into the water at
night, which is disturbing to marine life.
Ensure artwork meets all structural requirements.
Consider maintenance aspects of illumination effects in this potentially harsh waterfront setting.
MARION ST

Aquatic Utility
“UNDERGROUND: The waterfront will be
reopened and reconnected to the rest of
the city after the removal of the Alaskan
Way Viaduct. Some of the traffic which
used the viaduct will be diverted to a new
tunnel running under downtown, with
an entrance to the south of the central
waterfront. The waterfront itself is loaded
with underground services: steam tunnels,
major power lines, a railroad tunnel,
water mains and pipes taking storm
water and treated sewage out to the bay.
These various conduits for cars, power,
water, freight, and heat can be unearthed,
revealed, traced, or documented through
art.” - A Working Plan for Art on the
Central Waterfront

Utilities are both the functional machinery and lifeblood of the working waterfront.
A major component of the Seawall Project is to support and when necessary
relocate major utilities that run along Alaskan Way. As such, the Seawall Project
provides the best opportunity for art on the Central Waterfront to draw attention
to these conduits, as recommended in A Working Plan for Art. This commission is
an opportunity to bring revelation to these circulation systems and when possible
imbue them with meaning that ties to the concept of allying the seawall’s human
realm with its marine realm.
Being a waterfront site, water-based utilities could be the focus of the artwork.
Urban water — stormwater, wastewater, drinking water, and even steam — is often
conceived as an engineered system. The circulation of water through underground
pipes, revealing it only as it emerges sanitized from faucets, has tended to diminish
people’s connection to water as a poetic medium and essential liquid of life. In
addition to its management through technical, mechanical and industrial means,
water is a vital creative energy that rises and recedes, flows and sits still, nourishing
life. This art project is an opportunity to evoke the dual essence of water as both a
chemical substance and an elixir of dreams, while also looking at how it fits within
a cohesive network of utilities and other urban infrastructure.

Outfalls: Some existing stormwater outfalls and combined storm water/sanitary sewer outfalls (CSOs) will be
reconstructed to pierce through the seawall. Outfall locations at the base of Pine Street and University Avenue
will have “habitat benches” (shallow water with substrates that support marine life) built around them. While
it is anticipated that the new outfall pipes will enter Elliott Bay beneath the low tide line and the outflow of
water will not be visible, there may be an opportunity to mark their presence with art mounted to the seawall
surface or outfall pipe housing. The art could be revealed and concealed with the change in tides and there
is potential for tidal water to be captured at high tide, stored, and slowly released at low tide. The art will be
visible from adjacent piers, but somewhat “secret” from the promenade. The work should include an element
on the promenade, possibly marking the location of the outfall pipe, that triggers people to look for the art.
WESTERNWESTERN
AVE
AVE

Steam Vent

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SENECA ST

UNIVERSITY ST

UNIVERSITY ST

UNION ST

UNION ST

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Systems: Water-based utilities and utilities that
puncture the seawall have been specifically identified
as opportunities for art integration. In addition, it
is recommended that the selected artist look at the
waterfront and its traceries of utilities as a whole
and use a system-based approach to understand the
site and propose artwork. Through this process new
opportunities for art may emerge.
PIKE ST

PINE ST

T

VIRG

INIA

ST

ART
STEW

ST

Steam Vents: Seattle Steam Company is one of
the last working remnants of downtown Seattle’s
early industrial fabric, still supplying steam heat
to numerous buildings, including the Aquarium
and Colman Dock. Steam pipes, along with many
other utilities, are being relocated with the seawall
construction. Steam requires regular venting. There
may be an opportunity to coordinate with this
private utility to create a steam-based art feature,
possibly encompassing a vent(s) with an artwork
to give the exiting steam metaphoric meaning.
The vent could be at pedestrian level, or possibly
penetrate the seawall. Locations in the public realm
near the Aquarium or Colman Dock are feasible.

MARION ST

Sites & Opportunities

SPRING ST

• established artist with design team experience

MADISON ST

Artist Qualifications

• Create art that reveals, dramatizes, supports, and poeticizes both the presence and function of utilities along the
seawall, with an emphasis on water-based utilities.
• Explore utilites as systems and avoid applied decorative treatments.
• Explore changes in utilities during different weather conditions, tidal conditions, seasons, and times of day.
• Draw attention to how cleanliness of water entering stormdrains can affect marine life as it is discharged into Bay.
• Explore how clean freshwater mingling into saltwater can enhance marine habitat.
• Collaborate with engineers to create inventive systems that support habitat restoration.
• Tie art to elements of Seattle’s historic waterfront such as steam ships, steam-powered trains, water wheels, fresh
water flumes, wooden box sewer pipes, et cetera.
• Intertidal work may require permitting.
• Utility work must be coordinated with utility agencies and owners.

SPRING ST

• $150,000 - $200,000

SENECA ST

Estimated Budget

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 43

AQUATIC UTILITY: EXISTING CONDITIONS & POTENTIAL SITES

existing viaduct

pier

1934 fill

private utility
connections

existing
concrete seawall

older fill and bay deposits

Legend

very dense hard glacial soils

EXISTING UTILITY LOCATIONS

POWER
STORM
FIBER
GAS
WATER
STEAM
SANITARY

POTENTIAL ARTWORK SITE OVER UNIVERSITY STREET OUTFALL PIPE

44 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

historically elevated V-shaped log flumes carried water from springs on 3rd Avenue to downtown,
shown here coming down James Street and in the foreground rounding the corner at Front Street past
Henry Yesler’s home, 1870 (Museum of History & Industry, 2002.3.552)

stormwater scuppers in existing seawall; parts may be salvaged and reused in art

existing stormwater outfall north of Pier 63

aerial view of pier slip at University Street with CSO outfall

detail view of existing CSO outfall at University Street

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 45

Puget Soundings

The plasticity of sound offers an infinite palette for artists. Sounds can be collected, revealed, created, manipulated, mixed, and juxtaposed to create audio art that communicates particular
aspects of a place in unique ways. Sounds of nature, industry, history, language, and music can be composed to effect emotion through contemplative, arresting, amusing, or other means. The
Seattle waterfront is characterized by a wide array of sonic source material ranging from the natural acoustics of Puget Soundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s underwater world to its marine life to the cultural and industrial
sounds of its people at recreation and work to vehicles on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The commissioned artist will be encouraged to tap into conditions of the seawall site to create a site-specific
artwork that resonates with or creates a sense of place. With time as an essential component, audio art, whether pre-recorded or created in real time, can layer a narrative structure onto an
experience of place. This can work particularly well if applied to a promenade such as that being created along the seawall.
46 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLANâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;JANUARY 2013

Potential Art Elements

Concepts & Considerations

•
a sited
that creates sound at that location
Sites
&artwork
Opportunities
through its activation by people or the environment
• a sited device with which one interacts to listen to
sound produced elsewhere
• sound retrieved with personal digital devices from a
virtual place that is linked to the site through signage
or sculpture (in this scenario an art experience for
members of the public without digital devices should
be considered)

How an audio artwork is experienced is essential to
its effect. The commissioned artist will determine the
best location for the work depending on the concept
of exploration.

UNIVERSITY ST

Sites & Opportunities

MADISON ST

• established artist
• experience using site-specific sound as a primary
artistic medium in past work

MARION ST

Artist Qualifications

• Explore the use of a sound sequence tied to or inspired by the promenade sequence.
• Create art that reveals sounds along the seawall and in Puget Sound.
• Consider revealing to humans what the waterscape sounds like to marine life by channeling such sounds to the
pedestrian area above; consider revealing to humans how they sound to marine life below.
• Consider projecting historic, current, and future sounds of the site into the present-day soundscape.
• Consider making sound recordings of the waterfront before the Viaduct is torn down.
• Consider incorporating tribal voices and Salish language into an artwork.
• Consider using as source material oral histories about the Seattle waterfront, seawall, and Salish culture that
have been collected by the Seawall Project and other agencies; contribute to this collection.
• Urban noise can be disruptive to marine life, so projecting sound into the water is discouraged. Sound art must
be coordinated with project scientists to ensure that it will not disturb marine life.

SPRING ST

• $125,000 - $200,000

MADISON ST

Estimated Budget

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ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 47

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL ART OPPORTUNITIES
Art Project

Sculpted Habitat

Penetrating Light

Aquatic Utility

Puget Soundings

Budget Range

• $300,000 - $400,000

• $250,000 - $400,000

• $150,000 - $200,000

• $125,000 - $200,000

Artist Qualifications
• established artist with design
team experience
• commitment to scientific
exploration and/or ecological
processes as part of creative
practice

• established artist with design
team experience
• experience using natural and/
or artificial light as a primary
artistic medium in past work

• established artist with design
team experience

• established artist
• experience using site-specific
sound as a primary artistic
medium in past work

• Illuminate, reveal, and contribute to ecological conditions of the seawall,
Elliott Bay, and Puget Sound.
• Use art to support biodiversity and the growth of marine life.
• Consider creating art that acts as a habitat structure for marine life and a
sculpture for people.
• Explore art that is responsive to tidal shifts.
• Consider art that changes over time due to environmental forces.
• Collaborate with engineers to create an inventive system that supports habitat
restoration.
• Acknowledge site history. Acknowled e site history.
• Consider permitting requirements.

• Use natural and artificial illumination to attract people from the human realm
and fish from the marine realm.
• Create sculptural and light-based assemblages that amplify light in both
human and marine habitats.
• Consider combining sun-activated materials for daytime effects with electric
light for nighttime effects.
• Consider using solar energy to power artwork effects.
• Consider changes in light that are responsive to environmental factors like
tidal shifts, seasonality, salmon migration, or interactions with people.
• Explore optical properties of light.

• Reveal, dramatize, support, and poeticize both the presence and function of
utilities along the seawall, with an emphasis on water-based utilities.
• Explore utilites as systems and avoid applied decorative treatments.
sculptural pieces in stone, concrete,
• Explore changes in utilities during different weather conditions, tidal
metal, glass, or other durable materials
conditions, seasons, and times of day.
light
• Draw attention to how cleanliness of water entering stormdrains can affect
marine life as it is discharged into Elliott Bay.
gargoyles
materials salvaged from existing seawall, • Collaborate with engineers to create an inventive system that supports habitat
such as stormwater scuppers
restoration.
• Tie art to elements of Seattle’s historic waterfront such as steam ships, steampowered trains, water wheels, fresh water flumes, and wooden box sewer
pipes.

• a sited artwork that creates sound at
that location through its activation by
people or the environment
• a sited device with which one interacts
to listen to sound produced elsewhere
• sound retrieved with personal digital
devices from a virtual place that is linked
to the site through signage or sculpture
and also provides an experience for
those without digital devices

48 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

• Create art that reveals sounds along the seawall and in Puget Sound.
• Consider revealing to humans what the waterscape sounds like to marine life.
• Consider projecting historic, current, and future sounds of the site into the
present-day soundscape.
• Explore the use of a sound sequence tied to or inspired by the promenade
sequence.
• Consider using as source material oral histories about the Seattle waterfront
and seawall that have been collected by the Seawall Project; contribute to this
collection.
• Ensure that sounds will not disturb marine life.

Temporary art will be one of several concerted methods
of activation on the waterfront during construction of
the seawall. The proposed temporary art projects will
work in conjunction with other types of programming to
create a cohesive, dynamic, and multi-layered waterfront
that offers many points of entry into the site—physically,
culturally, and experientially.
While some of the temporary art commissions
identified in this plan are tied to particular construction
activities, others could occur either during or following
construction to generate excitement about the newly
restored waterfront.

Tapping into the both Waterfront Seattle’s and
the Elliott Bay Seawall Project’s philosophical
visions for art, temporary art can:
• create a dynamic and ongoing dialogue and
exchange with the transitional waterfront,
• reveal the transformative powers of
reinvention and reconstruction,
• emphasize fluidities of time and place,
• attract the public to the waterfront,
• act as a navigational aid,
• incubate and test new ideas, and
• create curiosity about and anticipation for
what is to come.

Vanguard of Cultural Connection

Temporary art has the flexibility to encompass change,
experimentation, performance, spontaneity, and
ephemerality in ways that more permanent works often
cannot. A series of temporary and event-based artworks
will span the seawall construction period, providing
different levels of artist and public involvement and
turning the waterfront into what A Working Plan for Art
on the Central Seattle Waterfront calls “a laboratory of
cultural production.” Commissions will range from sited
physical pieces to media works of sound and light to
performances and events. Tying directly to the agenda
outlined in A Working Plan, projects identified in this
plan will both engage and foreshadow processes and
structures of the shoreline’s transformation.
Temporary art projects will be the vanguard of cultural
connection between the citizens of Seattle and its
reformed waterfront, building anticipation for what is to
come while creatively responding to the here and now.

Integrating Art with Construction

Schedule. The seawall and its associated roadways
and public spaces will be built in a dynamic sequence
of construction that creates ripples of change and
redirection as it moves along the shoreline. A Working
Plan for Art eloquently describes the phased construction
of the waterfront as “a play staged in several acts, with
different sets, backdrops, and conditions.” Temporary art
is envisioned to provide metaphoric scenery, props, and
actors to the dramatic arc of the seawall’s construction.
Construction will occur over three seasons, or acts,
between 2013 and 2016, with intermissions during
summer’s peak tourist months. Activities are anticipated
to generally move from the north to the south end of the
site, occurring in a sequence something like this:
• Construct temporary roadway under
the Alaskan Way Viaduct
2013
• Relocate multi-modal corridor west of
the Viaduct
• Construct north and central sections of
the seawall
2013-2014
Season 1 • Construct north and central portions
of the restored Alaskan Way roadway
• Construct south section of the seawall
• Construct public realm elements in the
2014-2015
north end of the site
Season 2
• Construct south portion of the
restored Alaskan Way roadway
• Construct public realm elements in the
south end of the site
2015-2016
Season 3 • Construct Washington St. Beach
• Reinstall Washington St. Boat Landing

While it is critical that art be integrated into the
programming that keeps the waterfront active during
construction periods, certain projects may be better
suited to the limited construction activities of summer
when conditions entail long days, nice weather, high
visitation, increased access, and seasonal potential for
growth of plants and habitat.
Artists working with the Contractor. The General
Contractor/Construction Manager will establish the
seawall construction schedule, which will be subject
to change as work continues and conditions emerge
and fluctuate. Artists commissioned for temporary art
projects will need to create work that is adaptable to
these variable conditions. Once selected, artists will
determine and refine locations, timelines, and concepts
for their work in collaboration with the design team and
in consultation with the contractor.
For certain commissions artists will be working on
the site during construction activities, which will
require close coordination and safety training with
the contractor. It is recommended that the contractor
appoint a representative to act as a liaison with a City
representative to coordinate installation of temporary
artworks. This partnership could also extend to
coordination of permanent art installations.

The Seawall Project includes a strategy for temporaray
design interventions on the Waterfront during
construction.

Art will work in conjunction with the Temporary
Programming Plan to maximize effects and achieve
shared goals, which include:
• provide wayfinding and safety for all modes and
users
• maintain business/waterfront access and
vitality during construction through temporary
activation and attractions
• create/use re-usable elements to the extent
possible
• build excitement for the future implementation
of the Waterfront Seattle project.

Temporary Tidelines Concept

Temporary Programming elements will be unified with
a conceptual framework that has been identified by
the Seawall design team as “Temporary Tidelines.”
This concept works to build excitement for the future
implementation of Waterfront Seattle, the framework of
which is also “Tidelines.”
The Tidelines concept, inspired by the shifting tidal
waters of Elliott Bay, is applied as a formal device
that evokes horizontal depositions and vertical
registrations in the built environment. The Temporary
Programming Plan will adapt this framework to a design
language based on a set of flexible linear datums.
Opportunistically repurposing and reimagining existing
structures as well as informing structures built just for
the temporary period, these lines will register and allude
to time, topography, sound, movement, history, nature,
and phenomena along Seattle’s Central Waterfront
to create a compelling and shifting experience during
seawall construction.

Temporary Program Elements

Temporary Programming Plan elements are anticipated
to include:
• gateways marking entry into the waterfront from
downtown,
• screens separating pedestrian access corridors from
adjacent construction activities
• plantings
• seating
• parklets (temporary activation of parking spaces)
• food carts and trucks
• games
• construction “museums” (interpretive cabinets and
pavilion)
• barge for water access and temporary uses.
The Seawall design team will design these pieces;
however, artist interventions to alter sections of them
are encouraged. Program elements that will be in
place for the duration of construction include gateways,
screens, seating, plantings, and construction museums.
These elements in particular will be organized and
designed with the Temporary Tidelines framework to
bring a large-scale ordering device to the complicated
construction site. The screens, seats, planters, and other
elements will be moved and reconfigured in coordination
with construction, but the major gateways will be
stationary.

Chromatic Gateways. The Temporary Programming Plan
designates seven east-west streets as major corridors
connecting the waterfront to downtown. Where they
intersect the Alaskan Way Viaduct, these corridors will
be treated as Chromatic Gateways, or “color blocks.”
Each Gateway will be marked by a unique color on
both horizontal street pavement surfaces and vertical
Viaduct surfaces in patterns that reference the Tidelines
concept. (East-west streets that are not designated
major corridors have some vertical color treatments
where they meet the Viaduct columns, but no pavement
treatments.) The color palette is inspired by the sunset
skies over Elliott Bay. The colors transition from blue
at Washington Street to yellow at Pike Street, moving
through shades of purple, red, and orange in between.
The Chromatic Gateways will provide an attraction to
people approaching the waterfront from the east while
assisting people in the construction zone with navigating
their way back toward specific corridors and downtown.
Color treatments to vertical elements, like trees, are
also proposed along the major corridors as they move
uphill east of the Viaduct. West of the Viaduct, the
color scheme will continue onto the paving, marking
Chromatic Crossings and tying together the east and
west sides of the site.

Temporary Program Materials

Temporary Programming elements will also be unified
through their materiality. Materials for new elements
will blend several sources:
• reuse of materials salvaged from the site,
• appropriation of waterfront industrial materials such
as barges and shipping containers, and
• application of surface treatments that tie to or are
inspired by construction, such as reflective film,
bright paint, transparent screens, and work lights.

While it is not expected that temporary artworks be
specifically informed by the Temporary Tidelines concept,
artists should be aware of it as they develop their work.
52 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Interactive Pedestrian Screens. The screens that
border pedestrian access corridors cutting through the
construction zone to provide connections between
the Viaduct and waterfront will have graphic design
treatments that tie to Waterfront Seattle branding.
They may offer community participation opportunities
in how they art marked. The screens will function to
separate, protect, contain, and conceal. Art and design
interventions applied to them can create a sense of
reveal and a dialogue between inside and outside.
Planters and Seats. At the west edge, adjacent to the
shoreline, planter boxes and pedestrian walkways will
be organized in 3’-wide linear bands that extend the
Tidelines motif. The planters will be designed so they
can be repositioned and reconfigured during different
construction periods, and eventually repurposed for
other uses and sites following completion of the Seawall
Project. The plants may eventually be relocated into
permanent landscapes either on the waterfront or
elsewhere in the city.

TEMPORARY ART PROGRAMMING
Gradient of Temporary Art

The Chromatic Gateways on the Viaduct are the largest
and most permanent site markings of the Temporary
Programming Plan. They will provide a visual and
navigational language that acts as a bass line to a
changing melody of temporary program elements and
artworks on the waterfront. As these design and art
elements move away from the Viaduct gateways and
toward the waterfront they generally become more
ephemeral, starting with the screens and planter boxes
that will move around the site and extending to very
episodic performances by artists.

wayfinding
Wayfinding is defined as a consistent use and
organization of sensory cues from the external
environment.
With wayfinding performed to large degree by the
Chromatic Gateways and Interactive Pedestrian Screens,
many of the commissioned artworks will be free to
explore other concepts that tie to the transformation of
the waterfront and concept of exchange. However, a set
of artworks will contribute to and play off the wayfinding
aspects of the Temporary Programming Plan.
The role of wayfinding functions differently in the
permanent versus temporary art commissions, in
a way that speaks to specific issues of the Seawall
Project. Permanent artworks built into the future
shoreline will be geared toward wayfinding by marine
species, prompted by the condition of a complex maze
of piers and open water through which salmon must
navigate. Conversely, the complex access corridors of
the construction site will create a maze for humans to
navigate, prompting a set of temporary artworks geared
toward wayfinding by people.

Art can function as wayfinding in these ways:
• by acting as navigational beacons that attract
people to the waterfront,
• by enhancing the experience of motion along a
temporary corridor, and
• by mapping alternate routes through the site.

Seawall Beacons

Art in Motion

The Seawall Beacons should be vertically oriented to
be viewable over construction activities. The intent is
that people will look for the Beacons as fixed points
as the site changes around them and associate the
Beacons with the locations they are signaling. They
could be sculptural icons that convey messages about
their locations—such as a place to view the water,
catch a ferry, or eat clams. Alternatively they could
include beams of light or abstract forms that interact
with environmental phenomena like the sun and wind.
Use of reflective or luminous materials typically found
in transportation or construction projects could be
considered. Wood piles being removed during site
demolition could be explored as poles for the Beacons.

The art is envisioned as a sequence of elements
spaced and positioned so they are best viewed at the
speed of a person on a bicycle or other mode(s) of
locomotion. Manifestations might include graphic signs,
pavement markings, “glare screen” blades (typically
used in highway medians to block car headlights from
opposing streams of traffic), or sculptures. A sequential
experience of the work could reveal:

A conceptually and formally linked set of visual artworks
that are identifiable from a distance will act as Seawall
Beacons. These pieces are intended to draw people
to the waterfront and provide information about
what might be discovered there. In addition to their
navigational function, they should be intriguing and
memorable place-making elements for the sites where
they are located.

The Beacons will be located at termini of major access
corridors from downtown, so could be visually connected
to the Chromatic Gateways. They should remain in place
for the duration of construction. Locations are projected
to be at the termini of Union Street, University Street,
Seneca Street, Spring Street, and Marion Street. The
Temporary Programming Plan designates “parklets” at
four of these street termini, where the Beacons can be
located amongst planters and other program elements.
However, the terminus at Marion Street is an active
vehicular offloading zone for ferry traffic so a parklet
cannot be located there. The Marion Street Beacon is
important, though, for providing wayfinding to the Ferry
Terminal from downtown. Siting this piece will require
some creative thinking and collaborations. Possibilities
might include suspending a piece from the Marion Street
Pedestrian Overpass or locating a Beacon on WSDOT
property.

The temporary rerouting of vehicles, bicycles, and
pedestrians creates opportunities for exploring how
art can interact with multimodal movement. The Art
in Motion commission will occur along a multi-use
path located west of the Alaskan Way Viaduct for the
duration of construction. The art can explore differences
of experience for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists,
as well as motion, speed, and the views of a changing
context. It could also tie into the large-scale transition
of colors occurring along the Chromatic Gateways of the
Viaduct.

• a narrative storyline,
• a “flip book” effect in which images appear animated,
• lenticular imagery that appears to transform as it is
viewed from different angles.
The art could convey a different narrative depending on
whether one is moving north or south along the path.
While it is possible, it is not expected that the
commissioned artist will create a work that extends the
entire length of the multi-use trail. Instead he or she
will work with the design team to identify a section of
the trail most suitable to the art concept being explored
and that works in conjunction with other art, design, and
wayfinding elements.

54 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Meandering

Temporary Programming Plan elements coupled with
a signage plan will clearly convey ways to navigate the
site easily and efficiently. The Meandering artwork will
provide a complimentary counterpoint by suggesting
alternate self-guided routes that provide diversionary
encounters with curious artifacts, special views,
unique characters, innovative habitat restorations, and
changing conditions brought about by construction. The
routes could choreograph real and imagined journeys
through both space and time. Preliminary to devising
the Meandering artwork, the commissioned artist(s)
should achieve a thorough understanding of place
through research about the Central Waterfront’s history,
geography, geology, urban design, commerce, social
interactions, and cultural events; as well as the Seawall
Project’s and Waterfront Seattle’s construction sequence.
The artist should consider various thresholds into the
site, including points of entry from all directions and
modes encompassing boats, cars, bicycles, trains,
pedestrians, and possibly virtual experience.
The artwork could take on numerous forms such as
pamphlets, signs, trail markers, props, a website, or even
an application for digital personal devices. Elements
that prompt different perspectives could be placed along
routes, some of which might convey the perspectives
of other species living on the site, such as birds-eye and
fisheye views, as well as views to construction areas that
are not otherwise visible to the public and mechanisms
that convey views of things that are distant both spatially
and temporally. The artwork should suggest ways of
looking both outward from and inward toward the site,
combining large views with small details.

habitat incubators
The Habitat Incubators are envisioned as experimental
installations that meld art and science in new and
unusual ways, foreshadowing how the seawall will
perform concurrently as urban infrastructure and
marine habitat.
The Seawall Project is relying on previously collected
data to ensure that design elements applied on a large
scale—such as seawall texture, habitat benches, and
light penetrating surfaces—will indeed function to
create habitat. The Principal Art Commissions, since
their intervetions will likely be intermittent, may have
more freedom to experiment than the large-scale design
elements; but because of their permanence there is
still a need for durable materials and validation that the
art will, at a minimum, not inhibit habitat. The Habitat
Incubators, however, given that they are temporary,
will have near open license to experiment with untried
materials, forms, and ideas. In this way they will operate
as true test sites for creating habitat.
While the Seawall Project’s permanent habitat features
will support marine species, primarily salmon, the more
experimental and shorter term Habitat Incubators might
experiment with attracting shorebirds and insects.
Habitat can be explored both in and out of water in
this group of projects. The Incubators are envisioned
as either “planters” (above the high water line) or
floating “islands” (at or below the high water line).
However, sculptural perches, modifications to fences or
construction screens, and other “test site” interventions
can be proposed.

Artist-inventors can incubate new theories
about how art can work as both catalysts for
and barometers of ecological function along the
restored waterfront.

Planters

Rooted in Puget Sound’s earliest history is a deep
relationship with its unusually lush landscape. Native
Americans had a symbiotic relationship with what they
considered a “magical topography” and the native plants
that grew on it. They traveled seasonally to harvest
food from plants, while nurturing the eelgrass that grew
on tideflats and harbored sealife. Following that era,
Seattle’s nineteenth-century settlers drew an income
directly from the region’s plants, felling enormous trees
to turn them into valuable lumber. While this harvest
denuded the region of its old growth forests, it also
instilled a respect for and desire to protect the natural
landscape.

Islands

Restrictions on the placement of structures that cast
shadows on the water limit the type of permanent
artwork that can be installed in the tidal areas. However,
placement of floating artworks on a temporary basis
could be considered with more flexibility, particularly if
the artwork is intended to move around the waterfront
during its lifespan. Such an artwork is exciting in
its potential to physically interact with the marine
environment and its phenomena of tides, waves, and life
forms. The challenge of this type of Habitat Incubator
will be ensuring that the artwork is properly secured
and moored in such a way that it can properly rise
and fall with the tide; that it does not impede fishing
activities or the passage of marine traffic; and that it has
proper shoreline permits. In an effort to minimize such
complications, possible manifestations of an “island”
artwork might include:

The Temporary Programming Plan includes a modular
system of mobile planters along the waterfront that
ties to the Temporary Tidelines framework. Habitat
Incubator artworks could be designed as either a unique
• performance based, with artists inhabiting, moving,
planter or set of planters that fit dimensionally within
and ensuring the safety and security of the island,
the standard Temporary Tidelines matrix but appear and
• barge installation, in which the art is placed on the
function as a fantastic eccentricity. The artwork could
top of a small barge that is permitted and secured by
also be insertions of light, water or sculptural means that
the Project for multiple uses, and
enhance the habitat function of standard planter units.
•
ephemeral works, in which biodegradable elements
Typological examples of Habitat Incubator planters might
are floated on the surface of the water, allowing the
include miniature greenhouses, “curiosity cabinets” (near
passage of watercrafts through them and natural
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop), or elevated perches to attract
dissipation.
birds. Another possible interpretation is a planting
treatment or other form of habitat applied to an existing
chainlink fence along the sidewalk at Colman Dock.
Habitat Incubator plant selections might consider the
following sustainable plant families:
•
•
•
•
•

construction theater
Temporary art, occurring concurrently with the building
of the seawall, can draw attention to and use methods
and tools of the construction process in unintended and
unexpected ways.

Placing construction in the spotlight, rather than
hiding it, can make an intriguing drama out of the
intensive transformation that the Seawall Project
brings to the waterfront.

Props

While large sections of the site will be physically
inaccessible during construction activities, portions of
the construction zone can be made visually accessible
through openings in fences and screens. People are
naturally curious about what lies “behind the curtain.”
Art can feed that inquisitiveness and provide an
unanticipated surprise that dramatizes the performance
of building the seawall.
An artist shall be commissioned to create a set of
artworks that will be added to areas under construction,
possibly to highlight interesting processes or tools,
possibly to layer a bit of good-natured humor or
absurdity to the site. These follies are envisioned as
theatrical interventions, at night possibly casting the
construction zone into a theatrical version of its daytime
self. Manifestations might include enigmatic props, sets,
sounds, or lights. The artist may also play with creating a
viewfinder in the construction screen that provides visual
access to the art and construction. The artworks should
be designed so they can be easily moved around the site
over the course of construction.

Tours

Site-specific artist-led tours through the waterfront
during its time of reinvention can provide unique
information and insights about the Seawall Project’s
construction, structures, and agenda for habitat
restoration; as well stories of the waterfront’s future and
past incarnations. Like the Meandering project, these
tours will provide alternate routes and encounters with
viewpoints, both actual and philosophical, that otherwise
might be overlooked. The presence of a “real live” artist
leading a tour will add a level of theatricality and event
to the experience of moving through the site, particularly
if the “tour guide” takes on a dramatic personage. The
tour could lead to props and tableaux inserted along
the route, or even groups of additional artists acting
out a scene from history or the future. Various artists
commissioned to provide tours could explore different
parts of the site and diverse audiences, for instance
tourists and children.

Performances

Performance artworks can be cultural attractions that
bring vitality to the waterfront during construction.
Because these art events will be highly temporal, they
will affect the public in different ways. On one level
they will be occurrences that people happen upon
unexpectedly, and which keep them coming back to
see what they might next discover on the waterfront.
In another way, for those who know the performance
schedule ahead of time, these art events will generate
a level of excitement about the waterfront as a cultural
hub.
Performances should be site-specific, possibly telling
stories about the transformation of the waterfront and
the exchange the seawall will foster between human
and marine realms. Artists may consider reflecting the
carnivalesque quality of the historic piers and the buskers
who already perform there. Tying this street theater
tradition to the concept of temporal fluidity, artists might
act as minstrels (recalling stories of the past), magicians
(creating stories of the present), and fortunetellers
(predicting stories of the future). Myriad genres of
performance could be considered, including poetry,
theater, pageantry, processions, puppetry, dance, music,
organized noise making, storytelling, comedy, clowning,
acrobatics, and other forms of spectacle. Artists could
perform on stages designed as part of the Temporary
Programming Plan or they could identify locations that
work with the ideas behind their performance.

56 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Jet Grout Sculpture Contest

A key process in the construction of the Elliott Bay
Seawall is “jet grouting,” a method of reinforcing soil
with cement. Holes will be drilled into the waterfront
soil, causing it to be ruptured, and then cement will
be injected at high speed and pressure so it mixes
with the soil to create consolidated underground
structural columns. A grid of columns behind the face
of the seawall will be the new structure supporting the
shoreline of the Central Waterfront.
A sculpture contest could be held in which artists
work with the contractor to create sculptural jet grout
columns. The resulting pieces would then be put on
display for public viewing. A team of judges could
then view the work and award prizes for different
qualities. This event would reimagine the paradigm
of a shoreline sand castle contest, reveal to the public
an important aspect of how the seawall is being built,
and give construction workers a platform to perform
collaboratively with artists working on the waterfront.

documentation
Artists commissioned to document the seawall’s
reconstruction will work on two levels:
• explicitly they will be producing and collecting
material for City archives,
• implicitly they will be generating public interest in
the Seawall Project by becoming cultural attractions
as they work on site.

Artistic documentation of the Elliott Bay Seawall
Project will bring a unique perspective to how the
changes it will bring to the waterfront are recorded
and remembered.
Artists working on documentation projects should live
within 50 miles of Seattle for easy access to the site.

Documentarians

Several artists will be commissioned to create records
of the site as it progresses through all phases of seawall
construction. Each artist will work in a unique medium,
with options including photography, video, sound,
painting, drawing, stories, poetry, or interviewing. Media
that cannot easily be used on site, such as printmaking
or sculpture, will be discouraged, as the commission
includes a performative aspect of creating work en plein
air. Artists will be required to work through all periods
of construction, developing a body of work that depicts
a complete picture of the shoreline’s transformation
and the people who enacted and experienced it. This
body of work will be cataloged and included in the City’s
archives of the Waterfront Seattle and Seawall Projects.

Construction Curator

The Central Waterfront’s shoreline is a construction of
layered fill. Because the new seawall will push inward
from the existing seawall, a large quantity of cut material
will be extracted from the site and spoils will come out
as holes are drilled for jet grout columns. It is almost
certain that curious artifacts will be unearthed in the
process of excavating. There also exist artifacts on
the surface that will be removed, including drainage
scuppers perforating the seawall, plaques and emblems
on railings and in the sidewalk, and other items.
Prior to demolition an artist will be commissioned to
survey exceptional artifacts visible on the surface as
well review a list of items hidden below the surface as
documented by Project engineers. They will create a
catalog of salvageable items desired for future display.
During construction they will also sift through spoils as
they are unearthed. Ideally the Curator will form an
alliance with construction workers, who can put aside
oddities they discover for the Curator’s appraisal.
Several “Construction Museums” will be installed as part
of the Project’s Temporary Programming. These may
include large cabinet-like structures as well as space
in a small interpretive center that will provide Project
information. The Construction Curator will be charged
with selecting and cataloging salvaged artifacts to display
in the Museums, along with any curious tools that are
being used in the construction process. Imaginative
interpretive text will accompany the displays, similar
to what might be found in Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. The
Museums will contribute a layer of storytelling to the
construction project, possibly mixing fact with fiction,
past with future, to create tales of Seattle’s growth
embodied in the waterfront’s constructed land.

• Create a visually linked series of pieces that each signify the context of their location.
• Create placemaking art that can gather activity around it.
• Create work of a scale and height that it can draw people to the waterfront from a distance.

• Create art best viewed from the vantage and speed of cyclists and pedestrians.
• Consider a choreographed sequence of pieces that reveal a narrative storyline or have an animated
“flip book” or lenticular effect when viewed in motion against a shifting background.
• Explore notions of transformation, movement and journey.

Choreograph an alternate path(s) of movement through accessible portions of the construction site.
Highlight unusual or special conditions and prompt new perspectives of the site.
Mix fact with fiction, and present with past and future.
Consider various thresholds into the site.

Illuminate, reveal, and contribute to the ecological and habitat conditions on the waterfront.
Consider art that changes over time due to environmental forces.
Create clues and curiosity about future restored habitat conditions.
Create art that operates in an experimental manner, testing untried methods of creating habitat.
Consider the use of plants and materials that provide food and promote biodiversity.
Create movable units that can be repositioned during and possibly after construction.
Consider use of materials salvaged from the existing seawall.

Props

• $25,000
• 1 commission

•
•
•
•

sculptures and stage sets
construction-based materials
lights
sounds

•
•
•
•

Create a set of sculptures to be placed behind construction fences alongside pedestrian areas.
Incite curiosity about the construction process.
Use artistic follies to accent construction equipment or processes, casting them in a theatrical light.
Place pieces so they are unexpected discoveries, and move them around the site.

Tours

• $30,000
• 6 commissions
@ $5,000 each

• artist-led tours
• props and tableaux along a route
• number of tours to be negotiated depending on
level of complexity

• Create original site-specific tours about the construction process, salmon migration, habitat
restoration, future or past waterfront stories, or other aspects of the waterfront.
• Provide alternate routes and encounters with viewpoints that otherwise might be overlooked.
• Mix fact with fiction, and present with past and future.

• Create original site-specific performances that tell stories about the transformation of the waterfront
and the exchange the seawall will foster between human and marine realms.
• Reflect carnivalesque quality of historic piers by posing as: minstrels (recalling stories of the past),
magicians (creating stories of the present), and fortune tellers (predicting stories of the future).

Jet Grout
Sculpture Contest

• $15,000
• 3 commissions
@ $5,000 each

• jet grout columns
• custom-made formwork

• Hold a one-time event that reimagines a sandcastle contest during the jet grout construction period.
• Reveal to the public an important aspect of how the seawall is being built
• Sculptures can be left up for public viewing and possible voting on favorites.

• artifacts and tools culled from the construction site
• interpretive signs and stories

• Catalog, interpret, and display curious artifacts unearthed during construction and tools of the
construction process.
• Insert into “Construction Museums” housed in temporary plazas (to be provided by Project.)

58 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Commission artists to document construction of the seawall through various media.
Allow artists to work on-site with contractor (en plein air).
Encourage artists to work in a way that becomes an attraction to the waterfront.
Catalog documentation so it can be included in the City’s archives on the Seawall Project.

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS OF TEMPORARY ART OPPORTUNITIES
1ST AVE

PERIOD 2

PIKE ST

WESTERN AVE

T

CONSTRUCTION THEATER: Tours

HIN
GT
ON
S

WAYFINDING: Seawall Beacons

SW
AS

CONSTRUCTION THEATER: Performances

ER
WA
Y

DOCUMENTATION: Construction Curator

YE
SL

CONSTRUCTION THEATER: Props

COLUMBIA ST

INTERACTIVE SCREENS (by design team)

MARION ST

HABITAT INCUBATORS: Islands & Planters

MADISON ST

CHROMATIC CROSSINGS (by design team)

Exact
locations
to be
determined
by artists
and design
team

SPRING ST

WAYFINDING: Mapping

SENECA ST

CHROMATIC GATEWAYS (by design team)

UNIVERSITY ST

WAYFINDING: Art in Motion

UNION ST

CONSTRUCTION AREA

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT

PIE
CO R 52
FE LMA /
RR
Y T N DO
ER
MI CK/
NA
L

PIE

R5

4

PIE

PIE

PIE

R5

6
R5

7
R5

PIE

1ST AVE

PIE

R4

8

PIE

R6

3

R6

2

AQ
UA
R

IUM

PIE

R5

5

WA
PA TERF
RK
RO

3

NT

ALASKAN WAY

ST
GT
ON

RW
AY

SW
AS
HIN

YE
SL
E

COLUMBIA ST

MARION ST

MADISON ST

SPRING ST

WESTERN AVE

SENECA ST

PIKE ST

UNION ST

UNIVERSITY ST

PERIOD 3

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT

PIE
CO R 52
FE LMA /
RR
Y T N DO
ER
MI CK/
NA
L

3
R5
PIE

54
PIE
R

55
PIE
R

6
R5
PIE

7
R5
PIE

PIE

PIE

R4

8

PIE

R6

3

R6

2

AQ
UA
RIU

M

WA
PA TERF
RK
RO

NT

ALASKAN WAY

ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013 59

implementing the art plan
Artist Selection

The City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs
(OACA) administers the commissioning of artworks
funded with Percent for Art funds. This administration
includes artist selections. Methods of artist selection
could include open or invitational calls for artists or
direct selections. Direct selections and invitational
calls should be considered if schedule dictates a faster
process or if a specialized knowledge or interest is
required in an artist’s practice.
The Seawall Project Commissions are the first group
in what is anticipated to be an ongoing series of
Waterfront Seattle projects. OACA will determine a
general procedure to commission artists for Waterfront
Seattle artworks that maintains a cohesive vision but
still includes a diversity of perspectives. One possibility
is to have several members serve on all the selection
panels, to provide continuity and knowledge about
other projects in the growing “constellation of sites,”
but fill in other members who have special knowledge
about particular sites and media, depending on the
commission, to serve on a one-time basis. The Seawall
Project selection panels are an opportunity to test this
method, again playing into the experimental quality of
cultural production at play in the waterfront art program.

Implementing Principal Art Commissions

Artist Selection. For the principal art commissions it is
recommended that at least two continuous members
serve on all of the individual selection panels. One
should be an arts professional with experience working
at a scale of urban infrastructure. The other should
be a scientist who has an interest in artistic inquiry
and a knowledge of the Puget Sound ecosystem. For
each commission other members with expertise in the
particular theme of the commission (habitat, light, utility
and sound) should serve on a one-time basis. For each
panel it is recommended that the majority of members
be arts professionals.
Artists should be selected based on the quality of
their prior work, experience and skills working in a
collaborative setting, and interest in and initial thoughts
about the commission as expressed in an interview and
letter of interest.
Design Team Collaboration. Artists selected for principal
commissions will work directly with the Seawall Project
design team, with Haddad|Drugan as an initial primary
point of contact. Once artists have been oriented to
the project and determined a direction and sites for
their work, they will identify members of the design and
construction team with whom they can work directly.

Implementing Temporary Art Commissions

Artist Selection. The calls for artists for temporary
commissions should be open to artists of all types
and experience levels, with a particular emphasis on
emerging artists. It is recommended that one art call
be issued for each theme of work (wayfinding, habitat
incubators, construction theater, and documentation).
Each thematic call should include a variety of projects as
described in this plan. Applicants should express their
interest in a particular type of project, including an initial
idea of how they might develop it into an artwork.
Working with the Design Team. Artists selected for
temporary commissions that involve sited work should
coordinate their work directly with members of the
Seawall Project design team focusing on temporary
period programming, with Haddad|Drugan as an initial
primary point of contact. Once artists have been
oriented to the project and determined a direction and
sites for their work, they will identify members of the
design and construction team with whom they can work
directly.
City Partnerships with Other Organizations. While
temporary art commissions can be administered by the
City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, it is
also possible that some or all of them, particularly eventbased projects, be administered through partnerships
with other arts agencies, nonprofit groups, community
organizations, and businesses. For instance, 4Culture’s
Site Specific Performance Network might organize
performance-based commissions, while EnviroIssues
(public outreach consultants for the Seawall Project)
could coordinate art events that involve the contractor or
business owners (such as a jet grout sculpture contest).

60 ELLIOTT BAY SEAWALL PROJECT ART PROGRAMMING PLAN—JANUARY 2013

Artists Working with the Contractor

It is recommended that the General Contractor/
Construction Manager appoint a representative to act
as a liaison with an appointed City representative to
coordinate installation of permanent and temporary
artworks. Particular attention will be necessary for
coordinating the work of artists on site during the
construction period (such as documentarians).